There is this world of dieting strategies, mentalities and rules that we have pushed on us from so many corners of our lives. These ideas are teaching us contradictory approaches to what is the best way to eat and fuel your body. It has become this obsession to over analyse and critique what you eat and how much you eat – are you being good or bad, do you eat ‘clean’, you can’t lose weight if you don’t cut out certain foods. It’s an obsession. And it’s making so many people unknowingly miserable.
When it comes to food, I want you to think less about what you eat. I want you to stop obsessing and over analysing, and I would love for you to fall back in love with food. I give you permission, permission to eat and to love food and to use food to nourish your body on every level – mind, body, heart and soul. If you feel like you want to improve the way you are eating foods and the choices you are making, instead of looking at what you need to reduce, restrict and cut out, focus on these principals: Rhythm: Consistency. Get regular and consistent with your meal times and amounts. Your body LOVES consistency, and when allowed the freedom of finding its natural rhythm, it will create an efficient metabolic rate. Your body will create a harmonious rhythm based on consistency, so let go of the shotgun approach to eating what you can when you can. Breathe: When you breathe while eating, you are sending signals of no stress to your body, thus allowing your digestive system to break down your food efficiently, and then assimilate nutrients better (meaning send all the little nutrients out of your food around your body to your body cells). When we eat in a hurry, without breathing deeply, we are promoting a stressor on our body which signals stress hormones to be released. Once these are released, cortisol (the main stress hormone) shuts down your digestive system to better prepare your body for meeting the stress. Little does it know that you are actually stressed from eating! So breathe. Breathe deeply and slowly before, during and after every meal time. Breathing also increases your metabolic power (speeding up your metabolic rate), and furthermore your digestive system requires oxygen. So by not breathing enough while eating you are halting your digestive system and slowing your metabolism down. Pleasure: Eat foods you enjoy and love often. Feel the pleasure when you eat by using your senses – sight, smell, taste – to really receive pleasure from your food. If we deny ourselves the right to receive pleasure from food, our brain cries out for more pleasure and encourages us to over eat or binge eat to try to receive the pleasure it requires. Work on adjusting your palate to really enjoy some nourishing foods to help with your health and energy, but also by applying this process to eating you will not need nearly as much pleasure foods to receive pleasure contentment. Counting: I don’t encourage counting or weighing food mentalities, but if you want to count anything, count nutrients. Play a game with yourself to see where from and how many nutrients you can receive in your day. Look to foods such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes each day for bumping up your nutrient count. So, it’s time to let go. Let go of fear, let go of guilt, let go of frustration and anger about food. It’s time to love your body, love the foods you eat and how they make you feel, and love life without this crazy and obsessive desire to control and punish ourselves with food. Because you are worth it! Kerri x
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Kerri van de Loo - Mindfulness coach, Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach & SELF-LOVE COACH:Join our Online Wellness Club here: https://www.bodyessence.co.nz/wellness-club.html Categories
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December 2022
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