Women often tell me they struggle with portion control and choosing balanced meals
They either eat too much or nothing at all
And some of them feel healthy food is boring and unappealing
They ask me why that is? As I've discovered both in my nutrition practice as well as in doing the work myself, there are 2 common reasons why this happens
1. Feeling disconnected: when eating becomes a chore and in a time when so many of us are living on autopilot, we become increasingly disconnected from our hunger signals and our true desires. Is hard to “read” our bodies and our needs for food, nourishment and pleasure when we’re living and rushing and eating out of habit
If you’re eating too much, or too little or you toggle between the two, it will help to slow down and intentionally check in with your body. At first you may have a hard time but given some time, your body will tell if she’s had enough food and if the food was appealing…
If you’re afraid your body will say: “but I want more chocolate or how about we finish that whole pizza” ask her kindly “is that what you really want and need or will that choice be painful later”?
Trust the answer
2. Eating by the rules of diet culture: most women who under eat and/or who feel dissatisfied with food (e.g. healthy foods) do so because on some level have incorporated dietary practices likely to lose weight. A lot of us have come to associate fresh, real food with diets, no wonder we resist healthy food so much! This fosters a sense of restriction and an overall sense of dissatisfaction in our eating. And I get it because it took me a good 4 years to overcome the fear of sugar, fat and to genuinely feel salads are delicious.
Giving oneself permission to eat when hungry and enjoy all of food both the pizza AND the salad is absolutely necessary to avoid bingeing
And if the thought of giving yourself permission to eat for real nourishment & real pleasure seems too dangerous, take that as an invitation to see what else is going on...
Sometimes (most times) is not even about food… but that’s a conversation for another post
Have a lovely rest of your week!
Pamela
Comments