For a lot of us, food is the first thing we think about when we wake up and the last thing we think about before we go to sleep.
It has become an obsession as we strive to have the perfect body, stay fit and healthy and be as thin as we can possibly be. Unfortunately this obsession often spills over into other parts of our lives to the detriment of everything else. Food is just food. We don’t have to be “good” or worry about being “bad”.
Food ought to be used to nourish our bodies in a positive way and that should be the end of it. Yes it’s important to eat healthily, but not in a way that deprives us of our favourite foods. This is because deprivation only serves to make us crave what we are missing out on. Ironically, once you allow yourself to eat the so-called unhealthy food, you actually won’t want it; as it is no longer forbidden, it doesn’t have the same appeal as it had previously.
The key is to learn to eat “naturally”. This is a mindful way of eating which simply enables you to listen to your own body while eating, based on the following four principles:
- Eat only when you are hungry
- Eat exactly what you want
- Stop when you are satisfied
- Move onto something else after eating
These principles take great mindfulness and mean you have to be totally present when eating. When you are truly listening you will find your body doesn’t actually want too much sugar, fat or salt and it will crave the healthy nutritious foods instead. Accordingly, you will eat these foods most of the time. However, when you really need an unhealthy option to fulfil you emotionally, you will be satisfied with a small portion, because now you are listening when your body tells you to stop.
Eating “naturally” gives you the best of both worlds enabling you to eat in a positive and empowering way, and put food in perspective. Mindfully eating however takes conscious thought and will not happen overnight. Often we have spent years eating in negative ways without even realising it. We have got into little habits, which are very difficult to change until we focus on what we are doing every time we eat. Once we start to eat mindfully instead of mindlessly it is possible to change, and as your brain is no longer solely focussed on food, weight loss and body image, you can make positive change in other areas of your life too.
If dieting and food obsession is holding you back, learn to eat naturally, so you can be the best that you can be.