Ditch the worry about keeping fun foods around.
Summer has officially begun.
It's About Damn Time! (yess that's a Lizzo reference)
For many folks, myself included, the season change brings with it shifts in foods you might desire eating.
Here are some foods I tend to include during this summer season.
Salted caramel vegan Ice cream
Dark chocolate w/sea salt OR salted Caramel
Cereal
Even just a few short years ago, I wouldn’t even consider keeping these on hand, summer or otherwise, unless I intended them to be a special treat, if not in one sitting, certainly within a very short time frame.
The story was, ‘if I didn’t want to be tempted by all this sugar, it’s best to keep them out of the house”, or sometimes it was “I have no control around sugar, so it’s best to avoid them”.
Here’s the thing about losing control. It’s what happens when you’re faced with limitations or restrictions.
It’s this lack of control that makes you believe you are addicted to sugar or certain foods, and the only way to combat it is with more rigidity, keep them out of the house or avoid them completely.
But you don’t lack control because you are addicted to sugar.
You lack control because you’re used to restricting food, which then makes you feel out of control around foods that happen to have sugar in them.
Even if you don’t feel particularly out of control, you might still subscribe to the idea that avoidance of certain foods is the best bet.
If this is your strategy, here’s what I want you to know:
The only thing restricting or avoiding food teaches, is how to be more fearful of the food and yourself.
And if you're trying to improve eating habits or create a more positive relationship with food such that you don't need to worry about 'losing control', you are going to have to let go of restriction.
Three things to consider that may help you do this:
Food serves many purposes other than providing nutrients. But if what you want most is to add more nutrients into your nutrition, focus on incorporating more of the nutrient dense foods rather than cutting foods out.
There is space for the less nutrient dense, aka fun foods, if you want there to be, because they satisfy connection to culture, community, healing, joy, comfort etc (all important to your overall health). It is unlikely that your entire nutrition consists of only doughnuts or pizza, so make sure you aren't discounting the nutrient dense foods you're already having because you're focused on limiting the 'forbidden' foods.
Mental restriction weighs more heavily on your ability to be at peace with food than just physically restricting food alone. So look at the ways worrying about every food decision because of a set of shoulds or rules running around in your head, is playing into your avoidance.
When I decided to completely stop restricting food, and give myself permission to have the foods I wanted, it was a signal to myself that they are available whenever I want, if I chose to have them.
I wasn't good or bad, they weren't forbidden nor was there anyone looking over my shoulder saying I couldn't have them.
I had ALL the control.
And who knew that was exactly what I needed because since releasing all the rules and restrictions, these foods last in my house a rather long time.
If there's one word that would describe it, RELIEVED would be it.
How would you feel being able to keep fun foods in your house without worrying you'd lose control?
