In a nutshell. YOU are the best person and the only person who knows best about what to eat, when to eat, how much and what to avoid. Yes, YOU know this whether you think you do or not. If you don't believe this then you do not trust your body and your God given instincts, which is totally normal and common for most people and it's how we end up in this place to begin with. Our natural instincts are disrupted and over ruled and disregarded and we no longer know how to eat or how to listen to our bodies. We don't trust ourselves and our body to not go crazy with food.
The basics:
-Get rid of all of your ideas about diets and plans and programs. Be done with them. The longer you listen to a plan or a diet or diet expert about what to eat- the further and further away you are getting from being able to listen to your body about what to eat. Before you eat anything, honestly ask yourself what it is that you truly feel like eating. When you pay attention to your body's cues you may notice that your body will naturally crave foods that are nourishing and healthy. Your body is not going to tell you that it truly wants to eat 10 oreo cookies. Not because oreos are bad, but because your body knows how it will feel after you've eaten that amount of a sugary processed food.
-Eat at the early signs of hunger- do not let yourself get truly hungry. That is when you are most likely to over eat, binge, eat until you are stuffed etc. I always carry around a snack in my purse to avoid getting to that point of hunger when out and about.
-Food is not your enemy. Even sweets. Or those savory snacks. Stop labeling foods into categories of "can" and "cannot" eat or "should" and "should not" have. If you TRULY want something, you will be able to eat it and be satisfied and move on. Those oreos I mentioned above? No, you will not want 10, but you may want one or two if you are feeling the need for something sweet, that is totally ok! Food is not good or bad, and you are not good or bad by what you eat.
-Listen to your body when you are eating. You will know when to stop eating. You will know when you have had enough and need to stop.
-Pay attention to your feelings. Pinpoint those times that you are feeling emotional and instead of eating, intentionally choose to do something else. Choose to be in control. Take a walk. Pray. Clean or organize something. Call a friend. Water your plants. Journal. With everything, sometimes we just simply have to say no and resist the urge. Food is not the answer to emotions.
-Exercise. FEEL good. Not militant exercise or doing it out of obligation. Exercise because of how it makes you feel. When you feel better about yourself and in general, this will spill over into all areas of your life.
A good place to begin is to wake up in the morning and before planning out breakfast or mindlessly eating- ask yourself what your body truly wants to eat that morning, and eat just that. Don't eat because you feel that you have to, if you are not hungry, don't eat. At the same time, don't let your hunger get too far and you get to the point where you are out of control with your eating because you are so hungry. Do not eat to the point of being stuffed- listen to when your body tells you that it's comfortable. Choose foods that you know are nourishing and healthy but also taste good.
You will find that after a while this becomes easier and easier, your body will tell you what it needs and if you are not at your natural healthy weight already, your body will begin to shed pounds naturally to get you there.
I know that this is completely foreign and crazy and opposite of everything you've probably ever done or thought to do when wanting to lose weight, and some of you may not be able to mentally let go of the dieting mindset right away which is why I have given a calorie cap to begin with, and remember that it will take time for your body to shift from "dieting" and restriction to being fed what it needs and wants. It's not an overnight change but eventually you can get out of the mental strain that dieting has on you! Part 3 to this "series" is going to be about just that: WHY do this and NOT what I/WE have been doing???
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