Greetings! The turn in seasons has brought some wonderful weather for grilling which opens up an entirely different menu regime in our household. I even tried a new vegan, gluten free carrot cake over the weekend which was so divine! It seems like a wonderful time to talk about food. This post’s topic is pretty wordy but here it goes… Eat the cake. Or don’t, it doesn’t matter. I have tried nearly every diet philosophy to have come and gone: high protein, low carb, high carb, vegetarian, vegan, whole food plant based, sugar only (this was a personal experiment I conducted in college), carb cycling, intermittent fasting, etc. In the end, paying attention to what makes my body feel well is more important than eating something because some diet philosophy says it will make me look a certain way. There are many foods my body doesn’t tolerate which are good for me, and I feel much better when I honor my body. The minute I shifted from a mindset of restrictive dieting to empowering myself with a choice to feed my body for wellness I found a whole new relationship with food. (When you do eat cake, keep it in moderation.)
Recent celebration or holiday happened to be centered around a meal? Weekend activities planned around food? How many social events are held with people gathered around a vast array of snacks? Food is involved in most social occasions. Someone passes away-take food to comfort the family. Someone weds-dinner to celebrate. Someone graduates-cake! I’ve written past blogs about ancestral eating and my experience with an eating disorder. Feel free to explore those posts to better understand what shapes my beliefs. Research is revealing a strong correlation between gut and brain health. What we eat has a profound impact on the health of our gut, and we’re discovering the health of our gut has a profound impact on our mental and physical health. We can all just decide to eat well and never look back, right? It wasn’t quite so simple for me personally, and many of my clients have it on the top of their ‘I want to improve’ list. Here’s a bit of my experience with re-writing my script when it comes to food.
Brownies after 7 pm were my world for years! I have always been well aware my cravings center around sugar, but it wasn’t until I kept a food journal for about three weeks that I discovered other patterns in my eating. I ate very little during the day and then ate voraciously in the evening. I had sugar cravings several times a day with the most sugar consumption happening after meals. I ate processed carbs with very little nutritional value nearly every afternoon a few hours before my workout. Once I identified these trends I could compensate for them by eating more calories earlier in the day and keeping fruit based sweet treats on hand so I satisfied the sweet cravings without going bonkers on brownies. But the cravings were still there, and I was still feeding them. My compensations didn’t actually change my relationship with food. Instead the compensations only influenced choosing different foods to satisfy the cravings I regularly experienced.
It is common to take inventory in relationships with people. Examining how to be a better parent, friend, significant other, employee, or boss is a common introspective practice. Have you ever examined your relationship with food in the same manner (or with other non-human things like money)? Doing so, held the key to some major changes with what, when, and how I ate. I became curious about my evening cravings realizing it was the only time of the day I was alone and uninterrupted with work, workouts, or other commitments. What void was I trying to fill with food in my down time when I felt so compelled to eat? Knowing sugar creates a “high” I became even more curious about what my nightly date with brownies was masking with that sugar high? My journal also revealed I predominantly ate alone, but why? Why so much “control” with food, and any time I wasn’t “in control” why did I feel I was struggling? The answers I discovered in my inquiries were irrational but eye opening. I held a false belief food would make me fat, and I didn’t want others seeing me make myself fat. Hence I ate alone. I recalled the exact moment in 2nd grade PE class with Mrs. Bradley when I labeled myself fat. 2nd grade! Guys, I was 8 years old and probably not even 50 lbs when my skinny little self with short blond hair decided the only way I would ever be able to view myself was as fat. When mixed with genetics carrying the addiction gene it was easy to see how I had developed an eating disorder.
The knowledge I discovered within myself about my labels, false beliefs, and limiting beliefs allowed me to reshape the way I view food and the relationship I have with it. I have come to know there is no struggle with feeding myself, no need to control food, I don’t actually NEED 75 g of protein per day to perform at the level of athleticism I desire, food is not my enemy, and it will not make me fat. The introspection I utilized allowed a deeper sense of self love to develop, and self love naturally yielded clean eating. As I began to eat cleaner I physically and emotionally felt better as well as had more mental clarity. Spiritually I was stronger because I knew I had not walked through the strife alone nor did the strength to overcome an addiction come from myself. And this, my friends, is the glorious reward of holistic wellness!
Maybe at least one of my irrational limiting beliefs brought a smile to your face? If you are brave enough to go within and discover some of your own limiting beliefs you will discover yours are irrational too. They all are to be honest. Since limiting beliefs are stored in our creative and abstract subconscious they never seem rational to our conscious mind, but if met with a good sense of humor they can often offer some comedic relief. I hope you can make yourself laugh this week if you decide to re-script one of your own relationships. Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your cake!
Peace & Love,
Janessa