There are so many health professionals out there giving their ‘advice’ about what you should and shouldn’t eat. Well I am calling BS on most of these people. They have no right to tell you what you are ‘allowed’ to eat or how many calories you are ‘allowed’
Why?
They don’t know if you are hungry or how hungry you are
They don’t know if you are full
They don’t know your cultural/religious/personal beliefs
They don’t know what your family normally like to eat
They don’t know how your children eat
But do you know who the expert is?? YOU
That’s right. Your amazing body, made of over 50 trillion cells knows exactly what it wants. Each cell is talking to all the other cells to make sure that your body is functioning at its best.
Your body is talking to you all the time.
But there might be a problem here. You are too busy. You keep looking at different diets. You don’t address your eating behaviours.
There is all this chatter going on in your head about what you should or shouldn’t be doing that you drown out what your body is truly telling you.
Your body intuitively knows what nutrients it needs.
How do we get back to this place of listening to your true expert? Start with mindful eating. Bringing full awareness back to your eating.
Start a new conversation in your head
‘I can have it if I want it, but do I really FEEL like it’?
‘I can have it if I want it, but will I really enjoy it’ – Dr Rick Kausman
The word FEEL is critical here… not deserve or earned it. Does your body actually want this right now? If the answer is YES – fantastic, enjoy it, savour it, eat slowly
If the answer is NO – ask yourself, what do I actually feel like instead? Sweet, salty, water?
Initially you might find the answer is NO, but you eat it anyway. The more you start having these conversations, the sooner you will start to respond to what your body is asking of you.
There are many other factors that come into play, but let’s not over complicate it. Anytime you go to eat, take 10 seconds to tune into your body.
Does this mean you ignore the nutritional value & chemistry of food? Of course not.. don’t worry your expert body is aware of all this too.
It comes back to eating with Intention & Attention
The intention of caring for your body and giving it everything its needs to function properly
The attention of noticing the affects food has on your body, positive eg energetic or negative eg lethargic
Trust yourself. You are the pro when it comes to you!
Philippa Bowman
Pre/Postnatal Fitness Expert
Founder of Nurtured Fitness
