A Story About…Eating

How does your past experience shape your approach to eating now? Can we change our future?

I think so!

‘Eyes bigger than…’

I was reminded of this phrase whilst eating my lunch recently.

I was starving. So made a very decent sized lunch Then I got full 3/4 of the way through!

How many times did your parent tell you “Eyes bigger than your stomach” when you left food on your plate as a kid?

Other phrases I remember

“Eat it all up. It’s not fair on the starving children if you leave it”

And

“If you don’t finish your plate, you can’t have any pudding”

As a forces child I went to boarding school. Meal times a were portioned and regimented and allocated a certain amount of time in the day.

If you didn’t eat then, you didn’t eat at all. And there was always a scramble for ‘seconds’

These phrases and attitude in my young years had (and still have) an effect on my eating habits. At times causing me to gain weight (fat) and drop weight (fat and muscle) through diets, extreme or otherwise so that I could conform to society’s accepted norm.

It has taken me years to work my way through all this ingrained warped attitude to food. And even now, I can rebel quite hard (Jaffa cakes were clearly meant to be eaten in one sitting…)

Here’s some of my key learnings:

• Leaving food on your or your kids’ plate does not help starving children
• You don’t have to eat everything on your plate if you have had enough
• Your eyes (brain) get excited about favourite foods but that doesn’t mean more is better
• You are an adult, take a reasonable amount. You can always come back for more if you want.
• You don’t have to eat ‘healthily’ all the time
• Good and bad food doesn’t exist outside our perceptions.
• Food is not a treat/reward/punishment.
• All food has calories. All food has nutrients to a greater or lesser extent.
• Carbs, fats, and protein all play vital roles in our bodies. Eat them all!
• There isn’t the perfect universal diet that suits everyone. You get to choose how you fuel your body
• You don’t have to feel guilty about any of those choices
• You don’t have to do what anyone tells you to do regarding what you eat and drink
• Enjoy every bite of food you eat or don’t eat it.

Life is too short to feel guilty about food and our relationship with it.

Choose your food and enjoy it.

This is about as prescriptive as I get around nutrition. And I will never tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do.

Not after it’s taken me so long to get all those phrases under control and/or out of my head!

What phrases do you remember from childhood that are perhaps guiding you now?

And if you want some straight talking about mindset, diet culture and what choices you can make, drop me a message

……………………

Group, Online or 121 Memberships – what works for you best? You choose. PM me for a chat to find your best solution.