I often talk about listening to your body in my book The Skinny, Sexy Mind as well as in the coaching videos of my iPhone/iPad apps, but I don’t often give personal examples of what this means. Today though I am basking in the satisifaction that comes when I do something positive for my relationship with food. I ate crumb-cake for breakfast and it was glorious.
One of the greatest lessons I learned while living in France was that everything is permissible in moderation. Oftentimes we allow our relationship with food and with our bodies to be dictated by the restrictions we put upon it. Any relationship not grounded in freedom is a toxic one, and if you know anything about me, you know that ten-years of my life was spent in a toxic relationship with food. Your body wants to be free, it’s talking to you, but it’s up to you to listen.
Your body is talking to you, are you listening?
Back to my crumb-cake. I saw a chunky crumb-cake at a coffee shop about a week ago and thought to myself that it looked delicious. Not one to act on a sugar impulse, I took my triple-shot espresso and thought fondly of my grandfather who loves crumb-cake. He ate crumb-cake every morning I can remember during my childhood summers at the Jersey Shore. This morning, a full week later, while having a glass of almond milk, I realized that I would love a sliver of crumb-cake; so, I went and got some. My body told me something and I listened. I only ate three slivers of the crumb-cake (and a few extra crumbs) and it hit the spot. When you eat in freedom, you never feel obligated to finish what’s on your plate and you are better able to savor the tastes of what you are enjoying. If you know that you can have crumb-cake (or chocolate, or ice cream, or whatever your secret splurge might be) again and that it’s not something that you need to hide, then it is a lot easier to take just a few bites to satiate your body’s desire. When guilt gets introduced into your relationship with food, the body loses its voice. Over-eating, binging and purging often ensue, and a fierce re-commitment to restrictions is re-introduced.
Give your body its voice back. Start listening and remember that balance is the key to health.