I wasn’t always care-free about food. In fact, a few years ago, I was scared to put just about everything in my mouth. I had been researching health and nutrition for a while and was so deep into it that every food seemed to have something wrong with it. After a while, I was so stressed about what to eat, I didn’t want to eat anything. Low carb? Low fat? No carbs? NO FAT? Paleo? Grain-free? Blood-type diet? Intermittent fasting? Juice cleanse? Whole foods? My brain was constantly ping-ponging around in my head trying to figure out what food was “safe” to eat. Which foods wouldn’t inevitably cause me to get cancer. Which foods would help me “melt the fat off my tummy”. Which foods would help me live to 150 years old.
Then, I started intuitive eating. I threw out all rules, fears and restrictions and started listening to my body. It wasn’t easy, and it took a long time, but now I have such a good relationship with food! So today I wanted to share 5 ways my life changed when I started intuitive eating.
1. I stopped thinking about ONLY food. I used to spend a good part of each day planning what I was going to have for my next meals. I was so obsessed with controlling and planning every single meal that I honestly feel like I didn’t think about anything else. Now, I think about food when I get hungry (or when I’m planning which YouTube video to film next!) but I don’t obsess over it in the slightest.
2. I started to enjoy eating. And I mean REALLY enjoy it. I used to be so afraid of eating something “unhealthy” that my food was bland, flavourless and so boring. Now, I enjoy the experience of dining, trying new foods and experimenting with flavour. Food is so much fun!
3. I let go of my fear of gaining weight. I realized there is so much more to life than being skinny. I decided that whatever weight my body could effortlessly maintain was the weight I am meant to be. Instead of forcing myself to eat less in pursuit of smaller jeans, I fed myself, bought a slightly bigger size and loved myself anyway.
4. Travelling suddenly became much less stressful. When you try to have a tight control on all your meals, travelling becomes a complete nightmare! Now, I just eat what I can find and don’t worry about the nutritional content of everything I eat when I travel. Which leaves so much more time for experiencing new things and enjoying yourself!
5. I found a new appreciation for life. Life is short. Moments are fleeting. And there is no sense in wasting them worrying about food too much. Enjoy yourself. Hang out with friends. do spontaneous things. You need food to live. So just eat!!
I probably could have made a list of 20 things to be honest, but hopefully this gives you an idea of my experience with letting go of food fears and embracing food freedom. If you’re looking to learn more about intuitive eating, or want to change your relationship with food for the better, I am running a 7-day online course called Eat Unconditionally with my dietitian friend Hannah! It starts July 22nd, 2019 and will help you heal your relationship with food and yourself. For more info, click here.
PS: if you’re reading this after July 22nd, 2019 and are looking to take the course, send an email to eatunconditionally@gmail.com to ask about future enrolment!
