If I let go of losing weight, what would I do instead?
I ask myself this question regularly to center and remind myself what the purpose of good nutrition and eating well really is.
My answers are:
💕I’d eat in a healthy way most of the time in order to support my physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.
💕I would figure out which foods worked well for my body and optimized my energy and vitality.
💕I would determine an eating schedule that promoted the highest quality sleep.
💕I would learn which foods are best for my cardiovascular health, which help me to be clear-headed, and able to think effectively.
💕I’d determine which foods help me to regulate my emotional states: which promote a peaceful state of being, which leave me agitated and tired, and so on.
💕I’d learn which foods I should eat and which I should avoid in order to rebalance and maintain healthy insulin levels.
💕I’d learn which foods sate my hunger and leave me energetic and ready to learn and play.
💕I would determine how much food I need to eat to have energy.
💕I would include some joy foods that I would eat purely for pleasure, and exception meals.
💕I’d be relaxed about my eating. My meals would be opportunities to serve my physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing, rather than anxious situations fraught with worry about eating just enough, too much, and “blowing it.”
We attach so much of our self-worth to our ability to suck it up and lose weight for the sole purpose of having a smaller body.
It’s exhausting. And misguided.
The purpose of food and eating is to create and maintain optimal health.
The purpose of food is not to punish and reward ourselves.
But that is what we have come to expect in our diet culture. We are either being good, restricting, and losing weight, or we are being bad, overeating, and gaining weight.
We have learned not to trust ourselves with food and eating, and to instead look to outside sources of expertise because, surely, we don’t know what we are doing.
But we do know. We’ve always known.
The goal of coaching, then, is to help each client tap into that knowing.
To figure out what works:
💕which foods serves her body best,
💕what eating window helps her to have energy and sleep better, and feel alive,
💕to rewrite her belief system about herself,
💕to invite and allow all emotions.
Ultimately, the goal is to live without food fear and eating anxiety, and to live fully for ourselves.
The weight on our bodies is (almost) always the byproduct of our actions. Our bodies reflect our states of mind and beliefs about ourselves. By removing the incessant desire for a smaller body, we are able to focus our attention on our health and wellbeing – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. And over time, our bodies will reflect the deep care and attention that we’ve given ourselves.
I encourage you to give yourself this gift.
💕💕 ~Jenny