I've talked openly about my previous war with food, and with myself.
Although there could be a sadness inserted to the above line, I instead choose to see things differently. And in this case, my disordered experience with food and eating has directly brought to me the most abundant and glowing health.
The lessons that I experienced on this path were priceless and in this post I'm sharing the Top 5 with you...
1. It's human to be hungry
I'd often felt guilt around having an appetite and being hungry. As if, not having hunger was somehow the preferred disposition for health, wellbeing and let's face it, looking amazing!
I may have known better though I didn't feel better about this idea and denying my hunger never worked well.
Because this has a two-fold negative reality for us.
Firstly, we force ourselves into serious hunger, or for some of us, hanger and this can quickly spiral. Good luck to anyone or anything in your path!
And secondly, we've denied ourselves the opportunity to be prepared with glorious and delicious food. By simply stating the very obvious fact that it is indeed human to be hungry, we can plan accordingly and successfully. Making the best decisions about how to nourish ourselves when we inevitably do become hungry and not being forced into making less-than-ideal-choices and experiencing the resulting shame cycle that goes with it.
2. Good and bad is a lie
It's fairly obvious why such terms exist in our society though when it comes to applying them to food and the way we eat, their power needs harnessing.
Clever marketers, magazines, celebrity endorsements, TV ads and even health professionals have at some point had us all wanting to throw out certain foods from our kitchen and lives. And in equal parts they've had us wanting to add something else in.
"That's good for you and that's bad for you."
The fear mongering and often, complete bull***t that's finely crafted to steer our buying decisions has taken us to some very dark places.
Wholefoods, real food, what nature made, has no such description attached to it. These simple building blocks of our human evolution are something to be celebrated and respected, not fearful of.
3. We don't always know
Whether it's about the food, it's origins, how it's grown or what on earth to do with it, we don't always have the answer.
In our modern world, this is common and best of all, workable. We may not know though we can know.
Simply and deliciously we can know how to best nourish ourselves, shop smart, prepare efficiently and enjoy the process.
We simply need to commit to learning.
4. Food is addictive
How we react to food is completely unique to us.
However there are some common threads and they're not always ideal. Take for instance the carefully engineered food products that make up 70% of any given supermarket in a developed country and you'll find addiction-central.
The perfect combination of sugar and fat to have us hooked is the proven commonality and the one we want to avoid as best we can.
The good news here though is that once it's out of your realm, it's truly gone and the addiction is barely a memory. Further evidence that we're designed to thrive with the real stuff.
5. We're made to enjoy food
Not often a concept that we're encouraged to entertain.
Fun. Joy. Sharing. Family. Celebrations. Heston Blumenthal. Whatever food means to you is perfectly OK. In fact it's amazing.
Enjoyment and excessiveness may have become the pairing we're more familiar with these days though like anything instinctive, this isn't our natural default.
We can locate our instincts and enjoy delicious food at the same time. It's a gift to do so.
To learn more about how I found eating freedom, check out my PATH TO WHOLEFOODS online program.
Join me for the next live round of this 8-week eating transformation for busy women or find free resources to refresh your journey.
Enrolments open on 5th Feb 2017.
