Permission to NOT Eat Healthy
Today you have permission to NOT eat healthy.How does that feel? What emotions come to you? Do you get a little anxious, or scared? Maybe you take a deep sigh of relief because these are the words that you've felt you needed to hear for some time now but couldn't bring yourself to put them into practice. You still have rules around how you eat and what you eat. You still feel guilty for taking that bite of chocolate cake.Take a deep breath, dear friend. Ok, now a deeper one. Let yourself relax as you breath out and feel yourself releasing the pressure you've put on yourself to eat a certain way. Don't worry, I know this is scary. But you're not alone.I remember the first time I let myself eat something that was on my "naughty" list. It was the first time I'd had a bagel in, gosh, maybe 5 or more years! Crazy I know. But this was an exponential time for me and my journey towards peace with food and my body. As I took that first bite of doughy bread... a little soft, a little chewy...I thought to myself, "this isn't so hard!"So I ate another bite, and another, until finally I had finished the whole bagel. I thought to myself, that was actually really good! Why had I waited so long to let myself eat that!
From that moment, I made a conscious effort to not let my old rules about food dictate how I lived. I was going to enjoy all foods and not think about whether they were "healthy" or "not". I was going to let myself re-discover all of those foods that I'd convinced myself that I didn't like (but actually really loved!) and not feel guilty anymore!I was sick of feeling guilty. It takes too much effort. It keeps me from experiencing all the joys of life. And all the joys that come with eating good food!
I sense that you can relate with me with this one, on one level or another. I sense that you've had your fair share of moments when you were offered something delicious, but denied it all for the sake of being on another diet, or because it didn't match your "clean eating lifestyle". Or maybe you can relate with me and a vague set of rules around certain foods deeming them either worthy or unworthy of being eaten based on their nutritional value. You saw the title of this post and it drew you in a little...because you've been living your life with these rules. And you finally want permission to not eat healthy!
It's scary at first...but gets easier, trust me!
I told you, once I let myself have that bite of bagel I felt free of these rules I'd placed around how I should eat all for the sake of health I experienced so much freedom and joy again with eating! But you're probably one step ahead of me now and thinking...but wait, I know me, if I ate something like that I wouldn't be able to stop myself and I'd eat it every day! And that's not good for me!This is the beauty of being intuitive with eating...i.e. listening to your body with how to eat. When we listen to our bodies, rules aside, we're able to respond to our bodies in a healthy way. Without rules, the forbidden temptation is taken away from that food and you're more easily able to stop when your body is satisfied and you're full rather than just eating it all because you "gave in" and "better be good tomorrow"...right now it's all or nothing!
Permission to eat unhealthy foods doesn't mean you'll be eating french fries for every meal, or a milkshake for breakfast every day. Your body wouldn't naturally crave those foods all the time...it would get sick of them...because all of the restriction on those foods is what makes them so irresistible. So taking away the morality around certain foods will help you be able to eat them, enjoy them, and be satisfied by them at a place that feels comfortable.
Start by allowing those thoughts about eating things you love!
One of the first steps towards being able to embrace full permission with eating is simply allowing yourself to experience the thoughts of eating a certain food instead of, what diets and restrictive tendencies have us do which is push them away. Studies show that when we're told to not think about something, we're more likely to actually think about that thing we're trying to suppress...I'm sure you've experienced that. The same is with when we suppress food, and we act on those suppressed thoughts by eventually having to eat that food but without the ability of really tuning into our bodies.
So, start by simply letting yourself experience those thoughts before quickly pushing them away. Let yourself contemplate eating that bagel (or whatever fear foods you have/foods you don't allow yourself to eat) Think back to foods that you used to enjoy but maybe say you don't enjoy them anymore. Challenge yourself to open up your mind to the possibility of actually enjoying those foods again!
Permission to not eat healthy all the time lets you figure out what you truly love (as well as what you don't love as much)
This relationship with food that is free and pure and trusting allows you to figure out what you really enjoy eating as well as don't enjoy. I don't know many people who can genuinely say they like plain-jane rice cakes. Or maybe you've convinced yourself (in the name of health) that you like 100-calorie pack cookies, etc. Come on...have you ever tried real, homemade, fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies! I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but I want you to experience what real food tastes like! Real ingredients from butter, sugar, flour, chocolate! There's a difference in how both foods satisfy us and how they make us feel.
You're not good or bad for eating one way or another.
Healthy, again, isn't something that's black or white. You don't have to skip the dessert at dinner to still keep your "healthy" label. Your food decisions should be your food decisions...not decisions made by someone who wrote a blog post or cookbook. Your "goodness" with eating can include all foods! So, I hope you feel even just slightly encouraged to eat with full permission, that you can not eat healthy all the time and still be healthy. Let me know in the comments below if this resonates with you! Can you start to embrace your full freedom today?