Are you turning to food out of fear or love?

So I’m going to get a little honest here. I have not always had such a great relationship with food. Hell, my mean girl still gets in my head about food even though, after studying so much I KNOW that how I eat is SO CORRECTLY and there’s seriously nothing my mean girl should be saying to me. Why? Because I’m nourishing my temple every, single, day. Even my dentist was surprised when I told her that I don’t eat any sugar. She said to me ‘wait even after your operation? Didn’t you want to just have some soft drink at least’ and I was like ‘um NO!’ In my mind I was more like (what the actual fu*ck, you're a dentist, as if you would even suggest that and how the fu*k is that going to help my mouth heal faster?!)

Anyway back to the point. Before I starting studying the effects of sugar and fat on our body, I counted calories and ate low fat(ish).

Yep definitely guilty of choose low fat milk, cheese, skinless chicken breast, minimal olive oil etc. But at the same time, nothing was happening. I was

always stuck at (what I thought) my body type’s weight. I even went on a ‘watermelon and egg diet’ before my year 12 formal. I basically just ate watermelon for the day of my formal and the days before I ate eggs and avo for breakfast and lunch cooked on non-stick pans so I didn’t have to have any oil. Bad? YES. Not only was I doing my body no favours by counting calories, but my diet was much higher in sugar (as I ate A LOT of fruit and ‘natural’ sweetness like honey’ ) and I was doing all this from a place of FEAR. What did I turn to what I felt sad and stressed because of Year 12 exams? Chocolate and food in general. And how was I trying to make myself feel better again?….by doing an hour of hard core exercise thinking I'd ‘burn the calories’— but we now know that our body just doesn’t work like that. And again, this was done out of fear.

However, once I really started looking into food and JERFing, I have created a healthy and sustainable diet for myself that WORKS. I ended up losing weight, eating more and exercising less. It's important to realise that our body is using food to FUEL us. So we need to give it beautiful, nourishing food in order to keep us strong, disease free and radiant. If you eat crap, you can’t get annoyed that you look like crap. Did you know that if you have good hair, skin and nails, then you know that every other organ in your body has its optimal amount of nutrients and minerals from your food! Because the hair, skin and nails are the LAST place to receive nutrients and minerals.

A lot of the time, bad eating habits can be a reflection of something else that is going on in your life, so it is important to take a holistic approach to your relationship with food. Don’t just tell yourself you ‘can’t have’ something because you know what that will do? make you want it MORE. Instead, take a step back and see what factors in yourself may be putting pressure on you causing you stress, whether your mean girl needs to be put on mute, whether you need to LOVE yourself a bit more, whether you need to stop judging yourself and let yourself open up a bit more.

Your body wants organic, home-cooked, nutritious foods-it was made this way. I have settled into my ideal weight and am able to retain this with no crazy fluctuating, dieting or depriving myself. The 1 reason why DIET'S DON’T WORK is because they are limiting and depriving.

When you tell your body you can’t have something, you just want it more.

Now I’m not saying go eat a chocolate bar if that's what you're wanting....You should just try and dense out your meals with nutritious options so that your body and mind don’t feel deprived and thus your cravings will reduce dramatically. When you fill yourself up with beautiful, healthy foods, you don’t leave space for the bad stuff! Your mind isn’t fighting you and there is no love-hate relationship anymore!

I listen to my body. I eat what my body asks for and needs for, in order for it to function at its best. and guess what…

So here's your summarised 4 tips to healing your relationship with food:

So Beautiful, are you turning to food out of fear or love? Are you practising a healthy relationship with food, or are you constantly feeling guilty after you eat? Remember that making food the enemy is all in your head. It's not what it should be, and only YOU can change that!