I love food.
Food to me has always symbolised many things.
Celebration, experience, fuel, taste, memories, love… the list goes on
But as I have been developing a healthier understanding of what it means to be my embodied self, I realised that my relationship with food is one area that I have neglected
this neglect leads to:
• body insecurity
• lack of self confidence
• inability to make progress w/ physique goals
• unhealthy eating habits
• toxic relationship with food
• skewed perspectives on healthy living
These are just some of the things I wrestle with throughout my life— all of which stem back to my relationship with FOOD
Recently I decided to take the journey to TRULY UNLOCK freedom around food
Because although I love food… sometimes the obsession with it keeps me from LIVING MY EMBODIED LIFE.
As you know, I've been running the EMBODY program & inside of it, we talk about transforming & uplevelling how we show up in EACH area of life.
One of the things I recently realised was how easily I swing from one end to the other when it came to how I felt about my body. Some days I could accept how I looked & embrace my food choices... while other days I felt like a total lost cause. I'd eat whatever, binge on stuff I'd regret eating later & loathe myself for doing it.
So, as the program is designed to do... I decided to finally take that area of my life seriously.
What is with the inconsistency around my food choices?
So as a practise of SELF LOVE, I started asking myself deeper questions to get to the root
What does food mean to you?
What is the underlying need you keep needing food to fill?
What causes your codependency to it?
Yalllll I’m telling you. THIS WAS ASTOUNDING.
I sat myself down and asked myself the question: "what does food mean to me?" And here's the list I came up with...
After that, I looked at the list and circled the words that felt really true to me.
And after auditing the things I listed the role of food to be… I realised that I was missing the point.. ONLY ONE OF THOSE THINGS WAS ACTUALLY TRUE.
Food = fuel.
Food is a resource. It is neutral. Its function is to fuel us and to sustain our health so we can live long and healthy lives!
Food is not good nor bad. Food as it is does not inherently make you happy or sad. Food is neutral. Food is just food.
Everything else you make food out to be... is just a story you've attached
And it’s those stories that are KEEPING YOU DEPENDENT on it & stuck in those cycles!
Food is NEUTRAL. It is JUST. FOOD. Everything else you make food out to be... is just a story you've attached
I will always appreciate food— but after seeing just how many stories I had that connected food to a function outside of its main purpose... I realised exactly why I was so wishy washy with my food journey (and health goals).
I need you to hear this.
Every other need you “think” food needs to fill… can be met by yourself in other ways.
Food has only one primary purpose: TO FUEL YOU.
So let me talk about ONE of the things I filled in the blank with:
“Food is comfort.”
Food is what I turn to when I'm upset, not having the best day in need of release from stress or even in times of celebration.
Jose often gives me food as a gesture of comfort.
And it teaches me that food is a reward.
Although food is neutral, I've attached a story to food that when I am ______ (fill in the blank) food can fill that need without fail.
I've made food a dependable comfort source, making it out to be more certain and more fulfilling when it comes to meeting my needs than my own self.
The times when I'm too tired, exhausted or drained to try help myself.
The times when I'm not bothered enough to do the inner work… I fall back on food to catch me.
I rely on food to fix what I can't be bothered dealing with. And in depending on food, I end up not really addressing the issue underlying the codependency.
Food becomes a coping mechanism, a buffer & a way to delay or avoid doing the real transformative work that's keeping me in a toxic cycle.
So if food is not comfort, rather it is neutral. Then where does my comfort come from?
Where do I seek it when I need it?
From myself.
I get to provide my own comfort by being willing to sit with myself and examine how I feel instead of running to the quick fix.
I am the creator of comfort for myself. When I can see my suffering acknowledge it and soothe it without needing an external source.
I am comfort when I allow myself to feel my emotions and to be as I am without judgement of it.
I am comfort when I welcome every sensation and I don't try to bypass it
If I'm tired granting myself the rest, if I'm thirsty, drinking water, if I'm hungry, fueling my body accordingly.
If I'm in need of reward, giving myself the acknowledgement and validation. If I'm bored, allowing the boredom if I'm discontent, noticing it and letting it guide me to what needs exploration.
Let experiences be met with other solutions that are a fit for it.
Solutions that do not involve eating to feel comfort.
Because food is not comfort. Food is neutral.
My comfort can be accessed outside of food.
And it's time I detached that association.
The greatest act of self-love, when it comes to self-care around your body, and how you feel boils down to your ability to run to your own self, rather than to run to the food.
Emotional eating, whether it be binge, stress or celebratory eating, can all still come from a place of neglect.
To choose food as a Band-Aid approach for not having to deal with what you’re really feeling is the opposite of true self-care, and it gets in the way of our embodiment process.
It stops us from, stepping into the fullness of who we are, from excepting ourselves in our humanity, and it keeps us , believing that we must be perfect or else it’s not worth it.
So for every over indulgent, gluttonous decision I have made using food to silence my anxiety, to avoid dealing with my internal drama & to delay confronting my demons — I recognise the patterns
I free myself from them. Food is no longer my comfort. Food is just fuel. I AM my comfort.
Found this helpful? This is just the tip of the iceberg of whats available to you when you do the deeper digging.
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I’m Nicole, your flow-based life and business coach for women and in my world, the way you create a life you are OBSESSED with is by learning to create true wealth and abundance from the inside out. I’m on a mission to help women move out of the hustle and into more flow, teaching them to work with their mind and bodies to access new level and possibilities with ease. ✨Check out my EMBODY program where I help you take back your power in life and step into more alignment, abundance & freedom from the inside out.
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