FOOD AND FEELING: THE 4 THINGS YOU CAN START DOING NOW!

It is a lot of hard work to recognize and understand how our emotions affect what we eat and why we eat the way we do. It has been one of the hardest lessons I have learned. Food doesn’t come with a side order of judgment. Food is food. It isn’t therapy. It isn’t feeling-based. There is no such thing as “good” food or “bad” food.

I used to stress a lot about indulging. If I went out with friends and craved a beer along with a tasty carb-rich dish followed by dessert, I would give myself the ‘pep-talk’ to be strong, stay focussed, and remember my goals. I didn’t want to look back at an event like a wedding or a reunion and think, “Damn! I was hard-ass on myself!” Which is really a fine line between ‘fear of missing out’ (a.k.a FOMO) and just plain punishing myself. This went on for years, despite reading a ton about what your cravings are telling you, what I should eat, etc. It wasn’t theory I was lacking. Or practice, for that matter! I was missing the connection.

Connection you say? Yah! Like why was I eating what I was eating? Why did I feel guilty, ashamed and like a failure? To look inwards takes a lot of conscious effort. You have to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough to explore. For myself, it meant changing years of embedded patterns, feelings and beliefs around food. But the biggest lightbulb moment came when I started thinking about food as fuel for energy and performance. Something that would help me get closer towards my goals rather than a comfort or emotional therapy.

There are four key decisions I made in my own journey that allowed me to transition from the belief that food is therapy to knowing that food is fuel.

1. I stopped being black and white about food. I was lumping foods into the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ categories according to the feelings I attached to them. Life isn’t black and white, so should food be?

2. I started trusting myself. I let go of the ‘Start again on Monday’ mindset, because I knew that this wasn’t a permanent state for me. If I wanted cake, I could trust myself enough to know that that my next meal wouldn’t be followed by more cake, but with protein, vegetables and healthy fats. Same thing whenever I missed a workout. I knew that the next day I would be back at it!

3. I started choosing foods I really wanted. I have been known to throw out chocolate because it didn’t taste how I wanted. Now I am picky about what I eat. I want the right chocolate for that moment. If I want frozen yogurt, I don’t substitute. And you know what happened? I find I don’t want ‘treats’ as often because I fully enjoy those moments when I indulge.

4. I stopped justifying myself to others and to myself. I stopped making excuses. I don’t indulge because I worked out or hardly ate today. I do it because I want to. I also don’t worry about what is in my cart at the grocery store and who I may run into, as that person doesn’t know me. Because here is the thing: whether my cart is full of healthy stuff or has some chocolate thrown in there, I will be judged regardless. But that’s not on me.

It is far worse to deprive, deprive, deprive yourself than to let go once in awhile. Otherwise you’ll feel more stressed out and will eventually over-do it. The work is upfront: asking yourself tough questions to start transitioning to the belief about food as fuel. It really makes all the difference! That’s why All Out Training believes that your mindset - examining your thoughts and beliefs - will ultimately change your habits and behaviours so you can reach your goals, guilt-free!

Our ACTIVATE: 12 Week 'Un-Diet' Program is now open for registration and starts January 9th. If this blog post spoke to you, this is a program you will certainly want to explore.