For way too many years, body and food freedom was a concept I had never considered.
Thoughts of food, calories, weight, and body image occupied my brain. Over 90% of my day was spent counting, calculating, comparing, and criticizing. I was adding up calories, points, carbs, or fat grams. I was comparing my body to everyone I sawâcriticizing it as I compared. Full of harsh words and self-judgment.
No wonder I wasnât happy. Itâs no wonder I said no to going out with friends, missing out on experiences and memories. And no wonder I was always mad at the scale and the mirror.
This year I think it is even worse for most. Coming out of over a year of uncertainty, stress, and isolation. Diets and plans have come out swinging, vying for your money and trust. Pick me, I can make your life better. It takes a hold of the brain and the negative feelings, comparisons, and judgments come flooding into your brain.
Summer is meant to be enjoyed
The thing isâŚlife is too short! And as we head into this summer, isnât it time we pause long enough to enjoy it? Isnât that what summers are all about? Summers are for going to cookouts, celebrations, beaches, and boardwalks. They certainly arenât meant to be spent at home beating yourself up or kicking the scale. They are not to be spent throwing clothes on the floor and staring longingly into the refrigerator.
Are you tired of always thinking about what you should and shouldnât be eating? What others are going to think about how you look? Comparing yourself to everyone else? (who is not you by the way).
If so, July is the perfect time to claim your Body and Food Freedom!
5 steps to body and food freedom
Here are a few ways to get you started.
1. Begin by throwing away your scale
Let go of all the numbers. Release the counting of calories, points, steps, or carbs. Dismiss BMI and weight ârecommendationsâ
You are much more than a number on a scale or a chart.
Think for a moment about what 10 words/traits/qualities your friends would use to share why they like you. (Really, think about this).
Did you do it? If soâŚlook at your list.
Is there anything there about your weight or your BMI score? Probably not. That is because they like you for many other reasons⌠Your worthiness, your humor, your impact. Your value has nothing to do with the size or shape of your body. Unfortunately, the connection to weight and value starts early. How early? Listen in to find out here.
2. Listen to what your body tells you.
Tune into your hunger and fullness cues.
When you are hungry, eat! AND eat the foods that you like and that make you feel good. When you are feeling full, stop eating. There will be an opportunity to eat again. When you are eating, and you donât like the food? Stop eating.
Sounds easy right? Well, it can be. AND it can be extremely difficult. Tuning into what the body is telling you takes patience and practice. Start by pausing and tuning into your BODYâŚnot the stories your mind has memorized.
If you know certain foods donât make you feel good, know you have a choice to eat it and feel crappy. OR choose not to eat it, because you donât want to feel crappy. You get to make a choice. As you begin to trust your body, it will start to tell you what it needs. Paying attention to it is the key. This is all part of intuitive eating.
3. Embrace the thought that there are no good and bad foods.
Begin to release the shame and guilt that comes after eating either certain foods or amounts of food.
Whenever shame and guilt follow eating, you are becoming a bully to yourself. This puts you in a position where you are both the bully and the bullied. This will increase your stress putting you into the fight/flight/freeze response.
Result?
You either eat more, beat yourself up more, or go searching for the next diet. AND Diets donât work! 95% failâŚread more here. In actuality, this stress from the guilt and shame is more damaging to your health than the food you ate!
4. Clean up your social media feeds.
If you spend time scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, be aware of how it makes you feel. When you see things that make you feel bad about yourself, your weight, or your body, take notice. If they elicit negative self-talk, think about deleting them.
What is happening here is that you are comparing yourself to people who are not you. You compare your unique genetic gene pool, to others who are genetically different. You compare your life experiences to those whose are different.
How valid are these comparisons?
You end up giving a tremendous amount of power to people you are very different from you.
All of this ends up throwing you into #3âs fight/flight/freeze cycle. Moving you further and further away from any sort of peace or body and food freedom. Comparing yourself to others will only lead you down a path of never feeling good enough.
Read more on how to stop comparing yourself to others here.
5. Practice self-compassion and self-kindness.
This is one of the hardest, scariest, and most unfamiliar things to do.
We are taught to be hard on ourselves. That is what motivates us, supposedly. Unfortunately, the majority of the time this works the opposite way. Whenever we beat ourselves upâŚwe fall back into #3 (shame, guilt, and beating ourselves up) ONCE AGAIN! This just adds controllable internal stress to our bodies.
Negative self-talk is one of the biggest contributors to added internal stress. Donât you think we have enough external stress in our world today to deal with? Why would we make the choice to add some of our own to the mix?
By practicing self-compassion and self-kindness, we automatically begin to relax. We connect to our parasympathetic (rest and relaxation) nervous system. This allows us the time and space we need to breathe and connect with our frontal cortex. When we do this, we are capable of making more supportive and healthier decisions.
Upgrade your self-talk here.
You deserve body and food freedom. You are allowed freedom. And you have a choice to step into freedom.
Are you a member of the Body Joyful Revolution yet?
Click here to ask to join. It is FREE! Donât miss out on all the free resources, support, encouragement and inspiration to help you gain food freedom and body confidence once and for all!
Or sign up for a free Body Joyful Breakthrough session HEREâŚYou are worth it.
If you enjoyed this article, you wonât want to miss these either:
Is Your Relationship With Food Keeping You Stuck?
Tips for Intuitive Eating
How Saying âThank Youâ Can Impact Your Weight
This was just the reminder I needed this mrng Anne. Have been stuck in the triple F cycle recently, vowing to “do better today”, don’t do better than go to bed angry at self. Thank you for this reminder.