The answer might surprise you.
Man, I know sugar is a controversial topic. I also know some of you may not share my same views and that’s OK too. I love and value you just the same💗 Don’t come at me with daggers and hate mail. I can already hear “Sugar is so bad for you. It’s causes inflammation in your body.” You know what else causes inflammation in your body???
Stress!
Stress over what to eat or not eat.
Stress over good foods, bad food’s categories.
Stress over hating yourself or your body.
Stress for over exercising, and punishing your body.
Stress over finances, relationships, and simply life in general.
Stress puts us in fight or flight mode. We are not meant to stay there just get through the stressful situation. But when we live in a constant state of anxiety over food and body image issues we do more damage than a 🍩 or a 🍪 We experience physical and emotional effects of stress, shame and guilt, it can be severe or debilitating. It can manifest as migraines, IBS, chronic disease, food allergies, insomnia, anxiety, and many other things.
I only share from my own lived life experience…..no condemnation….no judgement. But if you’d like to get off the diet roller coaster, I’d like to invite you to a different way to see things if you’re open to it.
We all have our own food journey and have to figure things out on our own. Many of you know the journey I’ve been on recovering from an eating disorder. I’m not ashamed of that one single bit. It’s such a huge part of me, my story, and who I am today. In fact, because of it I believe I’m a better person and I have much more compassion for others struggling with the same issue.
I use to think sugar was addictive, even taught it in health and wellness classes. But as I continue on my journey I see things very differently today. I have been practicing Intuitive Eating, which has been so freeing to me.
I hope you will hear my heart on this.
Again, this is my experience and many others I know. As I allowed myself “permission” to eat whatever I wanted, the desire to eat all things sweet over time has diminished. I was desperate and determined to break the chains that have bound me and the diet culture rules about food and body image. Maybe you find yourself here today? You are in good company and the right place sweet friend.
So what is diet culture you ask? Yea, I know it makes me scratch my head too, lol😂🙈
Diet culture” refers to a set of beliefs that values thinness, appearance, and shape above health & well-being. Additionally, the concept places importance on restricting calories, normalizes negative self-talk, and labels certain foods as “good” and “bad”.
Do you think God envisioned us living like this? Critiquing and criticizing the very image He created??? Do you think God says you have to be thinner or prettier for Me to love you??? Ummm, a big resounding NOOOO! Absolutely NOT! Sweet one, God loves you just the way you are. Whether your big or small, fat or thin, underweight or overweight…..that makes NO difference to God.
He loves YOU UNCONDITIONALLY!
(The above image came from My Signature Nutrition)
My new life with intuitive eating told me there are NO good foods or bad foods….JUST FOOD. No rules or restricting.
Yes! Intuitive eating can be VERY SCARY thing to do but I knew if I wanted complete freedom then I would have to do it. I had tried everything else. The cravings at times would be so overwhelming and then at other times I would restrict and not give in. Maybe you can relate?
Let’s be honest sugar is yummy and it makes food taste goooood, right? Just like salt does. Fresh, soft, warm brownies or gooey chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven, Ohhh, makes your mouth water, it’s just heaven😋 Also….tempting to overeat or binge on them right? Maybe sweets aren’t your thing, maybe you are a salty snack kinda person. Whatever is tempting to you just think about that.
Does it have power over you?
Can you eat just one?
Or do you feel like you have to just eat it all?
I’ve been there, I know this feeling well. I felt like if I ate 1 I’d eat them all.
I felt like I have no self control. Have you ever felt that way? That’s such a helpless feeling, isn’t it? Then it takes us down a rabbit trail of what is wrong with me? Why do I keep doing that? I’m such a failure.
YOU are not a failure!!!
The Word tells us:
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts. Psalm 119:45
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
If you are in Christ…..YOU are free indeed!
As I sloooowly gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted, the desire to eat allllll the things has diminished. No, it didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been on this intuitive eating journey since October of 2019. Yep, that’s a long time and A LOT OF REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD WORK. Its a mind shift for sure. It’s the “permission” to eat whatever it is that’s been the forbidden food, the good foods, or bad foods that brings about freedom. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. When we are on a diet we tell ourselves we can’t have this or that but friend that makes that craving intensify like ONE MILLION % Eventually, you break down and eat it and now you have binged or ate it all. Now you have feelings of guilt and shame. Now you have to punish yourself more at your next workout. I know someone can relate to this….you’re out there lol. You’ve done it. I’ve done it! You feel bad about yourself again. I’m such a loser. Can’t control myself. Why do I do this? What’s wrong with me?
Friend, please hear me there is absolutely NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. You are human and we all do it. I use to love love love Reece’s peanut buttercups, but in my opinion they were a “bad food” so it intensified the craving and I would have to eat it. There is a Reeces cup on my nightstand since Christmas that I have absolutely NO desire to eat. I leave it there to remind myself of where I was. I have found I don’t eat even like them anymore. But they were forbidden and that made me crave it more. How crazy is that? Does that makes sense? Also, as I allowed myself a large iced coffee the longer I exposed myself to it the less I wanted it and didn’t finish the large. A medium was satisfying. I have practiced this with all foods now. I can eat whatever I want, no fear, no shame, or guilt.
Ask yourself what sounds good to you? No matter if you’ve put in it good food or bad food category. Food is just food. Food is meant to nourish, yes, but it’s also meant to satisfy and makes us happy. Nothing wrong with eating a satisfying meal or dessert, you don’t have to punish yourself. You will cause less stress in your life, in your body if you begin practicing this. This is just a start. I’d love to help you on this journey to finding food freedom and peace with body image.
Intuitive eating to me is like truly walking with Holy Spirit and listening and honoring my body. The body God gave me. He made our bodies to communicate its needs to us. When my stomach growls, I pause and ask myself if I’m really hungry or bored, then I listen to it, and I feed it. I don’t shove it down and say “No, you don’t need anything.” Every meal, every snack I ask myself what I want, and that’s what I eat. It’s more than that though, I also pay close attention to how it made me feel. Diet culture has told us not to listen to our body’s cues, but to subdue it. Beat it into submission. Friend, God made you in His image and He made our body to function right it’s us that have lost touch with our cues, our body, and sometimes God himself.
This is just my experience. I pray you all find freedom and healing. I’d love to help you.
Food Freedom Verses:
1 Timothy 4:4-5 “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Romans 14:27 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Psalm 107:9 “For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.”
Ecclesiastes 9:7 “Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a merry heart for God has already approved what you do.”
Mark 7:15 “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
Romans 14: 1-3, 6b “Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him…He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.”
John 6:35 “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Matthew 12:3-4a “Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread,“
Acts 10: 14-15 “No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Have a blessed week.
Big hugs,N
Nicole💗
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