Hello Reader,
Happy holiday weekend! Or Good Friday, or Easter weekend if you're into that kind of thing!
Easter chocolates, the bane of your existence?
There will be lots of tasty treats around this weekend, oftentimes you won't have any 'control' over what is available, and that feels stressful. You might even feel as if you start having chocolate, you won't be able to stop eating it.
The 'problem' here isn't the chocolate, or cake, or sweets, or hot cross buns, or crisps, etc.
Chocolate is neither good nor bad.
Yes, really, I mean it.
If you're worried about feeling out of control around certain foods this weekend, the problem is not the food itself but rather the judgment being placed on the food.
"I'm so bad, I'm having another Cadbury egg!" (Sorry if you're reading this from a country that does not have Cadbury creme eggs or mini eggs, they're delish)
BUT I CAN'T EAT CHOCOLATE ALL THE TIME, RACH, THAT'S NOT HEALTHY. EVERYTHING IN MODERATION. AREN'T YOU A NUTRITIONIST? I sure am...
I'm not saying that different foods all have the same nutritional properties. However, food is MORE than the nutritional qualities. Dichotomous thinking around food (good/bad) is associated with disordered eating patterns, which in turn makes you feel LESS in control around food...
(Although this old episode with Dr. Alan Flanaagan talks about an observational study done on a town in Pennsylvania that never changed their diet, but heart attack risk changed from generation to generation. Or the nutrition researcher who lowered LDL cholesterol by only eating Doritos and Twinkies lol, the only time you'll hear me say 'Well, it's just a calorie deficit'. Food always requires some context.)
Don't think of pink elephants!
Whatchya thinking about now? ๐
This is a very oversimplified example, but a similar thing applies to food. "I'll only have one bite of cake, and that's it!" Restrictive rules can make you think about the food you're trying to avoid, more...Fun!
So what do we do?
You probably don't need to hide the chocolate in the back of the freezer, or throw it out, or eat it all today, so that you're not tempted next week. (99% sure I gave the freezer bit of advice to a paying client once, if you're reading this, sorry about that...)
You need to make your relationship with food more neutral.
Because chances are, if your views of food were more neutral, you'd eat your veggies, have a cookie when you fancied one without finishing the pack, and you'd think about food less.
But how?
Step 1:
Take Inventory - What foods do you currently consider bad? Rate how bad out of 10 and why it's bad. Then write a neutral description.
Step 2:
Reflect - What are your thoughts and eating behaviours when you start eating one of the bad foods? Are you connected to the taste, sensation, or levels of satisfaction? What happens after? How is your eating the rest of the day? How's your mood? How do you feel about yourself?
Step 3:
Discover- What fears hold you back? ex: "Once I eat 'a bad food,' I won't stop." "I've tried it before, but it didn't work."
What if I told you that once a certain food is no longer 'off limits', you'll quickly learn that eating past the point of satisfaction is not nice, and the flavours and textures you love decrease past a certain point. After some time, overeating your favourite foods won't be worth it anymore.
โ
Step 4:
Developing peace - unconditional permission to eat it, not about eating as much Easter chocolate as you can possibly consume so that you never* want to eat it again. (like sambuca shots at your friend's wedding in Cyprus, no? Just me... cool) The goal is to create peace with food through systematic habituation.
Eat the same food and the same flavour (same brand, same everything) without any distractions and pay attention to the taste, texture, mouth feel (sounds like a Dentist Horror-style musical) reflecting on your thoughts before, during and after having some mini eggs.
This takes as long as it takes, it's not a race, and you might have to do this with more than just one type of food. That's absolutely fine, you're right on time.
I'd love to hear if you try this out and how it goes for you!
Have a wonderful weekend, no matter what you're up to.
Speak soon,
โ