Dear Friends,
How many of you have recently overindulged on gooey chocolate cake, a few extra glasses of wine, or a large bowl of cheesy pasta? I am right there with you. I see you and I feel you.
I think I can safely say that 100% of us are dealing with new challenges, and a new daily reality where life is on repeat without much respite (is there really a weekend anymore!?). So, the resultant behavior? We comfort ourselves the best way we know how – by seeking the quick fix of comfort food…or drink. Obviously, these are intense times, but our behavior provides valuable insight into how our food struggles play out in every day, non-COVID, non-quarantine life.
In the present moment, we are reaching for food because we are ____ (fill in the blank with your feeling of choice. Mine would usually be overwhelmed, stressed, scared etc). We are eating to make ourselves feel better, and the underlying motivation is fear – plain and simple.
This same concept applies in “non-COVID” life too. In college and throughout my 20s, I was constantly on a diet, always striving to be thin. I remember having the oddest diet, which was not healthy, and no shocker, but I was not thin. It was only when I realized the underlying issue that I became comfortable in my skin and lost weight. My real block? I thought my outward appearance determined my value in life. I equated how I looked, with my worth. Once I released this block (and it took time and work), I was able to make decisions about my food and my life, from a place of power vs. a place of fear.
One of my clients dug deep and has come to realize that her biggest fear is being vulnerable, and that this fear often manifests with strong feelings of anxiety. What do you think she does when she feels anxious – you guessed it — eat. Making sense?
How you do one thing is how you do everything. What appears on your plate (bowl/wine glass…) is how you show up in life. Any challenges that you are having balancing your food are indicators of a block that needs to be identified and broken through. Releasing this block will not only help you make more balanced choices about what you consume, it will also help you show up in your life in a more positive, open and loving manner – moving past the fear, because all blocks are disguised as fear.
How can you start to chip away at this? When you are in the kitchen searching the fridge for something to eat, pause and name the feeling that you are experiencing right now. Take a breath, sit with that feeling, accept it and say hello– “I see you fear, and I feel your pain!” And then make a choice, either 1) I choose to eat this cake and it is going to be ok. Or 2) I choose not to eat this cake and I am going to move on. Either answer is a good one, because you made the decision, you took the power back, you owned your voice and accepted the outcome.
We are going to be ok friends; life’s challenges are often our most helpful teachers. I know I am learning lessons about myself on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.
If you want to learn more or dig deeper, schedule a free 50-minute health history consultation with me to start uncovering and moving past your blocks.
Sign up here for your free session.
Sending love and a hug. Stay well and sane,
Mandy
Getting out in nature is my best defense for choosing to eat healthy and keeping healthy veggies front and center in the fridge.
Love all your good thoughts. Thanks for giving some purpose to my day.
Stay healthy.