So tell me…

• Have you ever written as a goal to “lose weight” or “start [diet] in January/Monday”?
• Have you set out to lose weight only to gain it back? Or not even lose much at all despite all your efforts?
• Have you found yourself comparing your image to those on instagram, facebook, or in the media? Do you get on with negative self-talk after?
• Do you look at yourself in the mirror and think: I really hate my body! I need to eat less and exercise more to get fitter and smaller?
• Do you keep clothes of smaller sizes in your closet hoping to fit in them one day?
• Do you judge your own or others food choices? You know the voices that tell you that “you had a cookie yesterday so you can’t have one today” or “no eating after 8pm” or “you ate too much for dinner — you better go to the gym to burn it off”?

If you said yes to any or all of the above then you, my friend, will benefit from this blog series. I’ve set out to help you, week after week, find the balance within yourself and start on a path of recovering your self-esteem, -confidence and -love!

To get started you have to promise one thing. You need to put weight loss and any thoughts of altering your body size on the back burner.  This is not a crash course on how to “fix” yourself to “fix” your body.

This is a practice; It’s a practice of finding peace within you to start seeing the peace in the world around you. This will allow you to find comfort and freedom in your presence!

Instead of jumping onto the bandwagon of the latest fad diet, try this diet plan that you can actually stick to. For this food & eating plan, there are no food rules but you are going to need to adopt a new mantra.

 

 

4 everyday resolutions:

 

1. Value your emotional wellbeing

Instead of thinking about the amount of calories in your breakfast or the number you weight on the scale focus on your mental health instead — Your worth is not dependent on your size!

Start loving yourself by doing things you love and leaving behind things that don’t serve you well. From eating and movement, to cleansing your closet and social media are all actually in your control.

2. Engage in positive self-talk

Eliminate the negative voices in your head by bringing in more positivity. These actions can be positive affirmations repeated or written down daily. You can post motivational or inspirational quotes around your house or work. Even writing down something that you accomplished or something that you are grateful for is a positive way to end each day.

3. Live judgment free

Start with leaving behind and “starving” the voices in your head that judge yourself and others. Eventually the diet culture language that you’ve become all too familiar with will start becoming one that’s separate from you, and who you become.  

Replace words like “must”, “should”, “shouldn’t” with “may”, “can”, “is okay”. For example, “I can eat whenever I’m hungry” or “It’s okay to have dessert every night.” This will allow you to make food choices based on internal cues including satisfaction and hunger cues rather than diet rules which use external factors to dictate food choices.

Removing all rules you have around food can be uncomfortable and even scary to give yourself complete freedom when eating but by following and practicing the principles of intuitive eating:

• You will become attuned to your hunger and fullness cues
• All foods will become emotionally equivalent (no “good” or “bad” foods)
• You will stay present to the pleasure of your eating experience
• Overtime, you will get better and better at recognizing, listening and trusting your body’s cues
• Free your mind for other things in life that really matter

4. Your worth is more than food

Eliminate moral values that you have attached to food, something you might have previously learned to attach to food. 

When you think you are “good” for eating that salad and “bad” for eating those cookies… start raising those red flags. This dichotomy of good and bad foods set you up to either succeed and feel good about yourself or fail and feel guilty every single time you eat. How exhausting!  

By removing the “good”and “bad” labels that we put on the foods we eat, we can also remove the judgment that we put onto ourselves. Just because you ate cookies does not make you a bad person, just like eating salad does not make you a good or worthy person.

SO… Ready to take this on?

 

Here’s your new mantra & pledge:

“I will ditch the fad and yo-yo diets once and for all… I’m going to set a new food and eating mantra. This “diet” has no rules; I will start tuning in, listening intently and respecting my body.  

This time around, I will nurture a peaceful and positive relationship with food. 

I will embrace my body, and love my food. I will become like no one else, but me.”

In next week’s blog, we will be diving into the Gut & Brain Connection. We’ll explore how the physiology of our brain and gut impact our overall health and wellbeing, and how small changes can have big impacts on both our mental wellness and our gut health. Sign up for the nutriFoodie newsletter so you don’t miss it!