It’s time for you to……..
Quit the diets
Banish food guilt
Redesign your relationship with food
Nourish your body, not punish it
Change your body image to a healthy body
Love your food, love your body
I had always been the ultimate yoyo dieter. I never really had a healthy relationship with food, or a positive relationship with my body and struggled both before and after having children with weight loss and food guilt. After having my third child, I consistently put my body through extreme stress, trying to lose the baby weight in an attempt to fit the ideals that I had let society filter into my brain about what a ‘Healthy’ body should look like.
For years I tried everything, every diet, craved to be skinny again, watched the scales every morning flick to a number that didn’t impress me,while I obsessed over calorie intake, deprived myself of foods and then felt guilty about it when I gave in. I exercised too much and too vigorously, all in an attempt to look like a supermodel (which by the way would never be in my genetic make up anyway.) And while trying to maintain this obsession….I burnt myself into the ground.
You can only avoid the warning signs of an unhealthy body for so long before it tries to shut down. I just couldn’t understand why, even though I was regularly exercising and eating well (the foods I thought were good for me) were having no effect on my weight, and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t shift it. I had no energy and little ability to enjoy my days with my kids and was struggling to get through the day without a nap. What I thought was a healthy lifestyle was burning me out. And my body hated me for it.
So I gave in. I gave in to my body. I was hungry!!! I was tired. And I realised that in my quest to get the ‘perfect’ body I was ruining it and not ‘NOURISHING’ it! NOURISHMENT, or lack of, was my biggest failure here. And so, I began to listen to my body and its signals. Instead of fearing every mouthful of food I put into my body, I started RESPECTING every mouthful of food I put in. I realised that when my body gets hungry it needs NOURISHMENT in order to survive and have energy to get me through the day!! BOOM!!!!
I began to enjoy food again. I created a mindfulness about eating the right foods at the time my body asked for it. I began to make meals and actually enjoy eating them with my family. I stopped banishing foods, enjoyed an array of different food, quit cutting out carbs and sugar and all the ‘Bad’ foods and didn’t even feel guilty about it anymore. With everything I ate, I appreciated that it was doing its job in keeping my body energised and functioning properly! And the biggest shift of all, was appreciating my body for its health and vitality rather than the fake beauty ideals I always tried to live up to. Not dieting has set me free. I’m now intune with my body. And benefiting from a better relationship with it and the food I put into it. And, I now have energy to play with my kids.
So how did I go from a burnt out, over-exercised, calorie counting mess to energised, healthy, happy and fit???
Here are my ultimate tips to help you stop dieting, quit food guilt, change your relationship with food and start NOURISHING YOUR BODY to health!!!!!!
#1 Start listening to YOUR BODY- How to tune in to your appetite
Realise your body’s hunger cues. Your body truly does know when it is time to eat and when it needs to refuel. By using the intuitive eating hunger scale, you can always keep track of when you should be having your next snack or meal. Before reaching for your next eat, ask yourself, am I really hungry or am I using food for some other reason? (Emotional eating, boredom)? Ideally, you want to be keeping in the range or 3-7 throughout the day. During the day, make sure you are keeping track of this, you never want to be too hungry or too full. Never eat before you are hungry and be mindful of eating only until you are satisfied. Are your needs met?
#2 You don’t always have to eat just because it is a regular meal time.
Just because it’s dinner time at 6pm every night doesn’t mean you have to eat!! You don’t have to stick to regular meal times if you are NOT even hungry!!! If you had a snack fairly late the afternoon because of a late business meeting or whatever, then don’t eat until you are hungry!! Keep the scale in mind during planned meal times with your family and don’t over eat just because it is scheduled!!!
#3 Mindful eating
When reaching for your next snack or meal, ask yourself, Is this going to NOURISH my body? And do I still want to eat it? Remember your main goal with food is to get the most out of it. So is it healthy and is it going to make you feel good? Take your time to enjoy every bite, slow down your eating and focus on what your’e eating by cutting out distractions like your phone or watching T.V.
#4 Make vegetables the main event
This whole superfood business is a crock of shit. All veges and fruit have different nutrient qualities about them.You don’t need to go and spend a million dollars on goji berries and chia seeds every week to get your weekly intake of nutrients. Pick a range of fruit and veges you can include in every meal. Ensuring that you are nourishing your body with a range of simple fruits and vegetables throughout the day will be your biggest shift in energising your life. Eat the rainbow and top up every meal with nourishing colours.
#5 Stop cutting out foods and focus on adding foods
Instead of cutting out carbs or sugar or whatever else you have learnt to be ‘bad for you,’ focus on what you can ADD to your diet to stop you feeling hungry and to curb your cravings. Choose healthier snacks that are less processed and will help you fill the gaps in between meals. Fresh fruit or nuts are always a great snack to reach for instead of a chocolate bar or sugary drink. Plan to have healthy and easy snacks available so you don’t reach for unhealthy options.
#6 Don’t deprive yourself of ‘banned’ foods. This will lead to cravings and obsessions.
At the start line of a half marathon I once did, they interviewed over the speaker, a 90 year old man who participated in the event every year. I remember the interviewer asking him what his secret was. And his simple reply was, ‘Everything in moderation. Including moderation.’ Exactly, why not have a biscuit or piece of cake if you feel like it. If you know you are eating to nourish your body throughout the day then why not every now and then eat your cake and enjoy it sometimes too. Don’t limit your social life to be skinny. Look after your body, nourish it well and enjoy the good tasting foods ‘sometimes’ without the guilt.
#7 Every time you eat, ask yourself why you are really eating?
This is probably one of the most important tips I can give you to get you in control of your eating. Before you reach for any food, no matter what it is or when it is, take a moment to reflect on why you are actually eating in the first place. So many of us, even without realising it, use food to escape actually feeling our emotions, and hence, eat when we are not even hungry, or we end up eating that whole pack of chocolate biscuits that we were so sure were calling our name from the pantry. So every time you go to grab something to eat, think to yourself, are you really hungry? Or are you just bored, feeling upset, angry or down? If you can recognise that you are buffering an emotion instead feeling it, sit with that craving for a few moments and then do something that stops you from eating that food you thought you wanted when you really didnt need it at all. I quite often need to stop what I was doing and move on to something completely different, that takes me out of that situation that was making me feel like eating was the answer. Like going for a walk, or heading outside to the garden.
#8 Change your ideals of beauty and create realistic health goals and habits
One of my biggest realisations in my health journey was the idea that beauty is often not healthy. You may look at a skinny and tanned person in the street and want what she’s got. But at the end of the day, you really don’t know what her overall health might be? She may well be super healthy, eat to nourish her body and workout regularly, but how do you know she’s not suffering the pain of food obsession, binge eating or even some sort of food disorder in order to maintain her ideal image? Understand, that not always, but usually the “Healthy Body’ is hard to maintain with healthy habits. So stop judging what you think is healthy by what you see, and what you are shown in social media, and start understanding being healthy is not about what you look like, but what you feel like. Let go of perfection, and that ideal body image and focus on your energy and adopting healthy habits instead. Health is not about your weight, your waist size or your box gap, it’s about nourishing your body to give you energy to do things that you love, and fueling your body to be strong, happy and feel good. No more trying to worry about how your body looks? Rather, ask how does your body feel? You don’t need to change your body to feel comfortable in it. It is more how you respond to your body. Stop consuming yourself with how your body looks and focus on how it feels.
#9 Plan all your meals
If any of these seem important, believe me planning your meals for the week is of the most important in trying to achieve all of the above. Planning, and preparation are your biggest tools in making sure you are eating to nourish your body. I am a super planner when it comes to organising our pantry and stocking up on food. I love my food but I hate the shopping part, so I am super efficient when it comes to this part of running my household. If I am prepared and have planned our meals for the week, then I do my darnedest to stick to it to ensure I stick to my healthy eating ideal. I am so much more likely to eat healthy options when I have planned to do so. And I always refer to my calendar when planning out my week of groceries so I know that if I am going to be on the run one day I can prepare something healthy rather than getting something that is probably unhealthy on the way.
So start nourishing with enjoyment instead of punishing yourself. Because, at the end of the day, if we are not kind to ourselves and our bodies, then who will be? Look after yourself right, beautiful mumma. Cheers to a healthier, happier YOU.
