This one word could be sabotaging your best laid diet plans…
We all want a body we love. What that body looks like, is your choice. I’m certainly not saying we can only love our body when we look a certain way. For I believe we are to love our bodies right now, no matter what. Lumps, bumps, flat bits, flabby bits, toned bits, squishy bits, all bits are all there to be loved by you.
However, this doesn’t stop us from wanting our bodies to feel good, to make us happy, to fill us with joy, energy and to look god damn hot, sexy, gorgeous or …. Fill in the blank for how you wish to look and feel.
Plus our bodies do have to do a lot of work, so it makes sense to want to look after it, to keep it in optimal condition.
This leads to the dreaded word ‘diet’! There is so much talked about around diet. They don’t work, they do work, eat this, eat that… it can all be rather confusing. Yet, in its essence a diet is food, it is what we eat and put into our bodies. The question is, therefore, what foods are you putting into your body? From there, ask yourself ‘is the food supporting you towards feeling and looking how you want it to?’ If yes, great. If no, I want to ask, ‘could you tweak your eating behaviour?’
And more, importantly, can you tweak your eating behaviour so you don’t feel deprived?
For the problem I often see, is the way we view food. We label it – this is good, this is bad, this is healthy, this is indulgent. Labels everywhere. This labelling is not always beneficial when finding foods to support you, foods that love you inside and out.
The biggest label that I have found to be destructive in our eating habits, is the word ‘treat’.
We use the word, treat, to label foods which have no real nutritional value to the body. Foods that don’t contribute to a sustainable energy, don’t give you focus, clarity or, in a vanity sense, don’t let you look fabulous. For example, we think of treats as being cake, chocolate, crisps, chips, take-aways, biscuits etc.
As it’s a treat, we create a mind-set that when we have done something positive these are foods that can reward us. This in turn creates this sense of longing and so we have to always employ our willpower to not cave into these cravings. It’s an exhausting process.
Yet what if we changed those foods to not mean a treat. What if we called those foods for what they are, a sabotage to your best laid body plans? And re-wired our brains to think of other foods as a treat, foods that uplift you in a sustainable fashion, that energise you, make your skin glow and your body feel amazing?
Can it be done?
Yes, if you are willing to notice the true effect food has on you at every level. And once you have, you find you naturally gravitate towards more supportive foods as they become your treat. And the other foods? Well of course, you can still have them, they are just food after all, but as they are no longer a treat, you find you don’t have the same desire to reward yourself with them. Your willpower no longer has to be actively engaged, which in turn frees up your energy levels and your body can feel awesome.
Want to learn more? Find out on our Nourish Your Body retreat…