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Obesity, listening without judgment.

Okay. My BMI is slightly above 30. I already talked about it on my previous page.

So I have an obese body. The word alone feels heavy.

Not that I am an exception. Apparently, 50% of the Belgian population is overweight, and 20% is obese.

That is precisely why I am looking for information that does not condemn, but helps to understand. Not directly out of fear for health, but out of the will to do something about it.

Podcasts are a safe form. You hear experts by experience. You can let everything sink in at your own pace.

Moreover, I find listening pleasant and soothing. And although it is not the same, I recognize the radio plays on the radio that I used to listen to as a child.

Podcast 1

The first podcast I listen to is one from the Belgian Cardiological League, Hartstikke Goed, about healthy eating. An open conversation in the form of an interview, transparent and pleasant, in which both healthy and unhealthy food is discussed.

What strikes me immediately: they don’t point the finger at you and don’t give you that oppressive feeling that you ‘have to lose weight’.

The speaker says something that appeals to me: he is not a fan of strict rules, but of putting more healthy things on your plate. That sounds simple, but you have to think about it consciously. It’s not about deleting, rather about adding. About taking care of yourself.

The Nutri-Score is also discussed here. This speaker is a fan of it, but with nuance. He acknowledges that the Nutri-Score reflects both the positive and negative aspects of a product, which sometimes makes it confusing for consumers to interpret.

Still, he sees it as a tool, provided you always include three things in your assessment:

1. Comparing the right products with each other
2. Serving Size
3. Preparation method

He gives a striking example: you have a whole range of meal salads in front of you on the shelf in the supermarket. There are Nutri-Score A and C.

The score alone does not tell the whole story. You should also compare the portion size and the preparation method.

My appreciation: This pleasant podcast, presented in the form of an interview, feels like an invitation to look more into this theme.

Podcast 2

Why the Nutri-Score is not so healthy after all

The second podcast I listen to goes in the opposite direction and is called:
‘Does Nutri-Score help you make healthy choices in the supermarket?’

Here, the speaker is clearly not in favor of the Nutri-Score and he explains why. According to him, the Nutri-Score goes against the Wheel of Five of the Dutch Nutrition Center.

A lot of products in the supermarket are unhealthy, and yet some highly processed products get surprisingly good Nutri-scores.

Examples he cites stick:

• Chips with Nutri-Score A? Duh?
• Products ‘without sugar’, which still contain (unrefined) sugars
• Fish fingers with a score of B, while salmon gets a D?

He points out that about 80% of supermarket products fall outside the Wheel of Five, which makes it very difficult in practice to eat exclusively according to that Wheel of Five.

While the Wheel of Five works with a yes/no logic and a product may or may not fit into a healthy diet, the Nutri-score works with gradations.

Even products that you would be better off eating in limited quantities still get a positive score. This makes it seem as if almost anything is possible, as long as the letter is green.

A study in a Belgian supermarkets even shows that 30% of consumers consciously choose products with a score of E, based on the idea: “I’m being unhealthy, then I really want it tasty.” That is the Burgundian Belgian who speaks.

The speaker’s advice is clear and at the same time simple: stick to basic foods as much as possible, products that have undergone little or no processing. The more heavily processed, often means the less healthy.

My rating? Very informative and convincing podcast, which teaches you to look differently at labels and supermarket logic, without sowing panic.

Podcast 3: Healthy eating from experience and switch mindset

The third podcast is more personal. Nutrition skills that you have to learn if you really want to lose weight.. The speaker talks about her own path to healthier eating, and that makes her story very credible.

She emphasizes that you have to make choices that feel good, but always with your end goal in mind, in this case losing some weight.

It’s not about perfection, but direction. She also talks about a necessary mindset switch. Healthy eating should become a lifestyle, not a temporary gimmick.

What makes this podcast strong is that in addition to her story, she also provides concrete, useful guidelines :

1. Respect macro’s: carbohydrates, proteins and fats in a ratio of 60% – 30% – 10%, respectively. On the speaker’s site you will find more information about macros.
2. Read labels
3. Measuring portions
4. Mindful eating: chewing, slowing down, being present
5. Meal prepping: proactively prepare multiple portions at once, so you’re less likely to reach for unhealthy alternatives later on
6. More unprocessed food: an extra week of fruit and vegetables noticeably does something to your body, gives more energy
7. Calorie logging: noting what you eat, creating awareness
8. Drink enough water for energy and concentration
9. Reflect on why you eat: do you eat from hunger or emotion?

My appreciation: a long, uptempo podcast, with a lot of known information, but still very useful because of the personal approach and the clear structure.

Finally: awareness

What these three podcasts do together is particularly valuable. They show that there is no one right way to look at healthy eating.

One argues for (albeit critical use of) tools such as the Nutri-Score, the other warns against it and argues for the Wheel of Five. The third recommends a complete mindset switch.

But they agree on one thing: healthy eating does not start with guilt, but with awareness. And that awareness starts with reading labels in the supermarket, putting more healthy things on your plate, and eating consciously.

For someone with obesity, that is perhaps the most important message of these podcasts: that you can listen, learn, and try, without feeling guilty. And sometimes change just starts with listening.

Tomorrow (29.12.2025) I will start. I’ll keep you posted.

Emma

To listen to podcasts on Spotify:

Here is a very simple manual for absolute beginners, step by step:

Open Spotify
Click or tap on the green circle with the three arcs (Spotify).

1. Go to Search
   At the bottom (on your phone) or left (on the computer) you will see a magnifying glass. Click on that.
2. Type a name
   Type the name of the podcast or topic, for example:
   healthy eating or Nutri-Score.
3. Choose an episode
   You will now see a list. Click on a title that appeals to you.
4. Listen
   Click the green arrow (▶). Listening starts right away.
5. Sound through earphones
   Insert your earphones. Don’t hear anything?
   → Click on the speaker icon and choose your earphones.
6. Taking a break
   Do you want to stop? Click ||.
   You can always continue listening later, Spotify remembers where you were.
7. Offline listening (not mandatory)
   Do you see an arrow pointing down? Click on it.
   This way you can listen without internet.
8. Tracking (Useful)
   Click Follow. New episodes will then appear automatically.

Know this:
You can’t ‘break’ anything. Just try and listen. Podcasts are there to be enjoyed quietly, not to do it perfectly.

You can find more of these stories on my site under my stories.

Emma