A blueberry muffin, guilt, and joy

I ate the most delicious blueberry muffin recently and ENJOYED every single minute of it! Are you asking why this is blog worthy? Well – this was HUGE for me – because there was NO GUILT involved!

Not that long ago, this would have been a one way sign to a day (or week) of overeating. I mean come on – who knows how many calories were in that muffin? And what is that sugar going to do to my body? And what about the scale? If I gain a pound from eating that muffin – I’ll have to add another cardio session to offset it! Oh screw it – let’s just go all in and get some candy, ice cream and cupcakes at the store – this week is blown – I’ll start over on Monday.

Yep – those would’ve been my thoughts about eating a muffin. And ya know – those thoughts proved over and over again how undisciplined I was – how food controlled me – how I could NEVER eat a muffin again cause they were unhealthy for me.

Does any of this sound familiar? Can you relate to this battle?

Here’s the thing – whatever thoughts you CHOOSE to have around food – will drive your actions and ultimately determine your results. And your results WILL prove your thoughts correct EVERY SINGLE TIME!

So what’s changed for me? My thoughts. That’s it. The muffin is STILL a muffin, it didn’t change. The only thing that changed my ability to enjoy a muffin without guilt were my thoughts about the muffin.

The decisions I make around food come from a joyful place now – instead of guilt, fear, or temptation. I don’t build up a story in my head about why I shouldn’t eat this or that anymore. I want to enjoy the foods I choose from a place of joyful decision – so that’s what I do now. I REFUSE to let my brain battle over food anymore.

Do those old thoughts still come up from time to time? You betcha they do! But now I know how to manage my mind in a way that gives me the results I want – a healthy relationship with food.

Is this something you want to work on? Here are a few suggestions for how to make your decisions about food from a joyful place.

1. Quit defining yourself based off of your food choices. If you are basing your worth on how healthy you eat or whether you can stick to a diet or not – PLEASE STOP! Food is food – simple as that. And yes, you have permission to eat food that tastes good and that you enjoy. The primary problem is not with the food you are eating – it’s WHY you are eating the food. The ONLY problem food can solve is hunger – so if you are eating for reasons other than hunger – it’s time to figure out why.

2. Eat until you are satisfied (not stuffed or full) and move on. How about we look at food just like you would filling up your gas tank. You wouldn’t overfill your gas tank just because you got a great deal on gas, right? What I hear most often from my clients is “but it tastes SO good” – well, ok – and why does that mean you have to overeat it? If you are using food as your only source of joy – well then, we have a little work to do on that, right? And if you are constantly telling yourself you aren’t allowed to eat certain things – you need to take a look and see if that thought is giving you the results you truly want.

3. Honor your body’s response to the foods you are eating – there ARE certain foods that will fuel your body better than others – so please pay attention! Back to the blueberry muffin – this wasn’t just a regular old blueberry muffin – this was a vegan blueberry muffin from Whole Foods. No, I’m not vegan – but I AM dairy-free. Several years ago I realized that me + dairy = no bueno. I could choose to eat dairy and complain later about how my stomach hurts, I have a headache or my sinuses are a mess…but I don’t…because my body has made it CLEAR to me that it functions best without dairy. So make sure that you honor your body’s feedback to the foods you are eating. If you eat something and your energy is low, your stomach bloats, or you get a headache from it – then maybe that food just isn’t for you.

Listen friends, it’s FINE if there are certain foods (like a blueberry muffin) that you just don’t want in your nutrition plan. But if you want the battle to end with your mind and food – try shifting your decision making to a place of joy and love for yourself – it will take a little practice – but the peace around food is worth it!