Post Christmas Guilt & Intuition

It’s the day after Christmas and I’ve been paying attention to all the Instagram messages supporting a non-diet culture encouraging people to enjoy their friends, family and food without guilt. As I digest these messages, my first reaction is FUCK YES! But as I continue to read and digest, I find myself a little uneasy.

Having had an eating disorder and being so effected by the diet culture myself, this may seem a little odd. My worry however, is that we are swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. Some may take the messages at face value without reflecting on how they actually apply to one’s own life. For example, diet books used to say fat was bad...and as of late, they’ve retracted that statement and now say that fat is good. People have a way of latching on to, trusting, and incorporating ideas into their everyday lives simply because it’s what they were told…and this my friends, this is where things go terribly wrong.

When we do this, we are giving our power to someone on Instagram with 50K followers, someone who has a TV show, or someone who has published a book. These things mean the information is trustworthy and true, right? WRONG-O! What we end up doing is discounting our own knowledge and putting someone else’s on a pedestal. We are the only ones who know what it’s like to live in our body and there is a tremendous amount of rich, ooey-gooey, delicious knowledge in that.

Over the years of seeing people heal from eating disorders and various other health conditions, I have come to believe there is no such thing as a “good” or “bad” food. There are simply foods that are better or worse for different people during different seasons, different days and even different hours of the day. Every macronutrient has a role in the diet and in the body…and for women in particular, we need more or less depending on our body’s beautiful symphony of hormones. The point I’m trying to make is that everyone is different…and to feel our best, we need to take back our power and listen to our body’s intuition.

So getting back to the non-diet messaging…no, we don’t need to diet today or any day. Instead, we need to find ways in the aftermath of the holidays to tune inward. If we consume something that doesn’t sit well, we need to be open and receptive to that message, and next, we need to listen to it and change course. If I feel anxious and turn to food to make me feel better, that is a clear sign that it’s time to un-pack that emotion and why the anxiety is there in the first place. The only way to make it to the land of food freedom is through the lands of mistakes and getting up to try, try again. It’s not easy to dig deep and address the root cause of our behaviors whether it’s tied to food or otherwise, but it’s the only way to truly be in the driver’s seat of our lives and reclaim our power.

Let’s take ownership of our lives, the situations we put ourselves in, and the people we spend time with this year. Let’s support each other and challenge societal, personal and/or family norms when they no longer serve us. Let’s take inventory of how we are growing and what we need more of moving forward. And last, let’s believe in ourselves and less in what we are told by the outside world around us.

Be Free, Well & Good,
Tina