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How is your diet working for you?
I spent years trying to perfect my eating. Admittedly, I was a nutritional fundamentalist. There were a few reasons for that, some foods gave me brain fog and I had a bad case of IBS. My bloating would get so past the stage of "has she gained a few pounds?" people would boldly ask me if I was pregnant. But truth is, I feared food, and in trying to keep my symptoms at bay I created a self fulfilling prophecy.
I was not one to sit on the sidelines watching my health spiraling downhill. So I tested, researched, chuck some "nutritional truths" out of the window and made of nutrition my life's work. Eventually I found that there are as many perspectives on diet as there are people on the planet, but in the end, it all comes down to 3 fundamental guidelines I work with, and suggest you try. Experience tells me they work:
1. Be an emotional eater
In other words, embrace who you already are. We all are emotional eaters, but not in the way we usually speak of, tail between our legs as if it were a shameful thing. Your body is sensitive to the chemistry of your emotions, and very much so. Depending on what's going on inside you will digest food differently, metabolize differently, burn calories differently and use energy differently. You will be more, or less pone to falling ill, and to developing a health condition.
It's not about taking emotions out of the equation, it's about learning to manage them. For this reason, learning to relax your body during a meal is vital for a healthy metabolism, and deep breathing is one of the simplest, most effective ways to relax. Don't discard simple, it's often the most powerful.
You can get a few breathing techniques on my website.
2. Stay curious about your eating behaviors
Binge eating, overeating, emotional eating, shopping sprees, one drink too many... Our most disconcerting actions can be stepping stones to our deepest insights. Exploring the driving force behind them gives us the understanding, wisdom and maturity we are being called to develop. Addiction taught me that what you resist, persists. Rather than control, observation, curiosity and inquiry will 'unlock' an unwanted behavior. Try to beat it it'll beat you. Invite it to the table, you'll be surprised at what it has to say.
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3. Let your diet evolve
This -- is important. Your health mirrors how you do life and your life mirrors how you care for your health. You move through periods that require from you new choices in food as they do in your life, and the healthy diet that worked miracles 5 years ago may have reached its expiration date.
We can outgrow a diet like we outgrow a jumper. Does this mean the diet was bad? No. Even a life saving medicine works until it does. Your ability to listen to your changing needs and move into what best supports you right now keeps you awake. It keeps you healthy in body and sharp in your thoughts, open in your beliefs and elastic in your ability to change them.
Because a diet made you feel superhuman doesn't mean it will continue to do so. While there are long term preferences you stick to because they work, it's important to stay aware of your body senses, keep an open mind and continue to assess whether yesterday's choice is still the right one.
Now, I'd love to hear from you. Which of the above 3 tips did you resonate with the most, and why?
Catarina Catarino coaches, teaches and host retreats in Pilates, Qigong, Transformational Nutrition and Eating Psychology. Connect with her at catarinacatarino.com.