How happily do you eat your food?
By that I mean, how often do you eat a meal without ever considering whether it’s good or bad for you, has too many calories, is too sugary or just plain ‘naughty’? You just eat it and enjoy every last mouthful?
Even those words we use to define types of foods are telling aren’t they?
Bad. Naughty. Sinful. Decadent.
It got me thinking about how emotional our response to food has become and how I really believe that the thoughts you put into your eating can be as damaging as poor food choices.
Take, for example, butter.
I love butter. I only eat butter and I have no problem with finding any vehicle I can to spread it thickly on and devour. There is never any question, guilt or should-I-shouldn’t-I conversations going on because I just love it.
However I have a client who only has butter on ‘special occasions’, feels bad when choosing it, says things like ‘ oh I shouldn’t’ or more interestingly ‘I know it’s bad, but …’
What message does that send to her brain as she eats it?
It will almost certainly send her body into a state of stress that will lead to her having digestive upset. This will then link back to how she feels about that food when she eats it. And that won’t be a happy memory. She’ll validate that the food is ‘bad’ and feel ‘naughty’ for eating it, not enjoy it and regret the whole experience.
How often do you say this to yourself? Maybe on cake day in the office? Or when out for a drink with the team? Words are powerful and I encourage you to change them when you’re making food choices.
If it is cake day in the office and you decide to have a piece that day, then have it and enjoy it. And I mean really enjoy it.
Because then you won’t have to worry about.
- Deciding that you shouldn’t eat for the rest of the day.
- Working out how much time you need to spend in the gym to work it off.
- Criticising yourself for being weak, useless or a failure.
I’m not suggesting you eat crap all day long. That’s not it at all. But making conscious, happy choices about your food lead to a much calmer, more even behaviour around food, which leads to a healthier and happier you.
Food is to be enjoyed. Even a McDonald’s (if that’s what you like) or a Krispy Kreme doughnut (if that’s your thing) or butter…as that’s mine 🙂
Change your words, change your thoughts and change your health.