Recovering Your Intuition in a World that Says You Can't Trust Your Body
Hey there! So, I was given the suggestion by someone to do a series on recovery. I thought, what a great idea! I think everyone could benefit from a little knowledge and personal growth in the form of "recovery", even though that looks different for each person individually. But, in our world of diet-obsession, it's important to "recover" our true selves and remember that we are intuitive beings, able to trust our bodies regardless of what the culture says. Let's dive into what it means to "recover" a life of freedom and joy!
So recovery is oftentimes reserved for those with a diagnosed eating disorder. But what you may not realize is that we all need a recovery in one form or another from what diet culture has ingrained in each of us. We need to recover from things like...
...striving for perfection in ourselves and in our lives.
...the belief that there's a "right" and "wrong", a "good" and "bad" way to eat.
...harsh negative self talk that keeps us from being our most empowered selves.
...exercise addiction, or exercising out of fear of weight gain and calories.
...living in fear instead of freedom.
It's ok if you relate with any one of these things, or all of them. God knows I, myself, fell into my own trap of diet culture and disordered eating. But the good news is, recovery is possible!
You don't need to have a diagnosed eating disorder to need recovery. Actually, I'd bet that each and every woman living in our
You are enough!
Our current culture preaches living in fear of our bodies. The thought is, if I just shame myself enough, if I just hate my body enough as it is right now, then maybe I'll do something to change my health. But shame and fear do not drive change. Loving, treasuring, and living in gratefulness for your body drives the desire to care for your body through things like eating well, exercising, getting good sleep, and slowing down.
So, with that being said, the first step in recovering your intuition is to stop shaming yourself for not being enough. It may be hard to put into practice right away, but with time and intentionally changing thoughts from self-destructive to self-respecting, you will soon see the power in owning your "enough-ness"...if that's a word. You get the idea! :)
The thing with recovery is that while there is oftentimes a physical component where you may need to work on changing your actual way of eating and exercising, there is an even greater amount of mental change that has to take place as well. I've said it before...You can't have a healthy body without first having a healthy mind and relationship to food and yourself. Oftentimes, recovery starts with a change in how you think, and what follows is a change in the physical...how you eat and move.
Believe it or not, sometimes it's necessary to "fake it till you make it". With recovery, you may not always "feel" like doing the work to change your thoughts. Sometimes you have to put into action those things that you know will get you to where you want to be...in this case, finding that beautiful freedom of a healthy relationship with yourself...even if you aren't really believing these things in the moment. You see the end goal and strive for that, taking baby steps each day towards that goal. Eventually, you'll look back and forget what it even felt like to live each day in fear of food. This is freedom!
Maybe you don't hate your body, though. But each day your thoughts revolve around keeping the "perfect" body you have now. There's a saying that diet culture doesn't only affect those in larger bodies. What the current diet-obsessed world we live in does, in addition to shaming those who live in a larger body with the thought, again, that shame leads to change (which we know it does quite the opposite), is it creates this fear within each of us of gaining weight. And this fear leads to harmful behaviors and mindsets such as limiting or totally eliminating fat or carbs from your diet. It leads to over-exercising and anxiety if you can't fit it in. It leads to thoughts, constant thoughts, about food and whether you've eaten too much.
Here's the thing...Your body, your healthy God-given body size, is that which doesn't require a crazy amount of thought or rigorous monitoring.
This is tough stuff! I know! Not only are we all bombarded with things that try to get us to think and act the exact opposite of trusting our bodies, we're reinforced in our negative thinking each and every day and even praised for disordered eating behaviors! But know this...you have what you need to be able to start your recovery journey wherever you are and wherever it is that you crave to be.
I want you to do something for me. If you've thought to yourself of some area of your life that would benefit from "recovery" and are wanting to make changes to how you view food, your body, your world, start with one goal. Recognize your desire for more and set your mind on the person you want to be. That person can be far off. Don't worry. And you may have fear. It's ok to be afraid of this unknown. The important thing is that you are taking that first step in recovering joy, freedom, _____________(you fill in the blank).
I'll be sharing more tips for recovery in the next few posts so be sure to check back in for those! In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you and your own recovery journey OR answer your specific questions regarding your own recovery in the next couple of blogs! If you have something to share, email me at victoria@victoriayatesnutrition.com. I'll talk to you then :)
xo
Victoria