Do You Eat Out of Love or Fear?

Do you ever stop to think about why you eat what you eat?

Unfortunately, on the flip side of media attention focused on delicious wholesome foods such as nuts, greens and avocados, we also see reporting on the damaging effects of other types of foods.  Gluten? Dairy? Soy? Sugar? You may hear that one food causes cancer or another leads to diabetes. In fact, we admittedly are guilty of writing some of those types of articles ourselves. 

The downside?

We occasionally see clients start to develop what we call “fear based eating.”  Meaning, they avoid certain foods due to fear of what will happen when they eat them. And IF they happen to eat one of these so-called “bad” foods, they feel so guilty that they either don’t enjoy it or it causes undue stress, anxiety, or hours of self loathing. 

Let’s get one thing straight. Unless you have a condition that is greatly improved by completely eliminating certain foods from your diet, such as a chronic digestive disorder, autoimmune disease, or soaring blood sugars, we urge you to ease up a bit and would like to invite you into a new way of thinking.

How about viewing food as a way to nourish the cells in your body.
And instead of so called “fear based eating,” how about “love based eating.”

In this scenario, you seek out healthy, “good for you” foods that you TRULY enjoy. This means that eating them is sheer PLEASURE. If choking down a kale smoothie does not fall into this category, than by all means find another yummy recipe that does! Having your arsenal of tasty foods and recipes you love that can serve as both nutritious and delicious is half the battle.

On the flip side, allow some wiggle room for things like your favorite chips at the local Mexican restaurant, a piece of Nana’s famous pecan pie, or a slice of pizza or ball park frank at a baseball game. The catch? If you choose to eat these foods, we urge you to follow these rules:

• Enjoy it with gusto and ditch the guilt. There is no harm done in the occasional meal or snack that doesn’t fit neatly into an “ideal” diet. 
• Take your time, eat slowly and enjoy every bite. Since we have high hopes this is not the type of food you are eating on a daily basis, it’s better to really appreciate and savor the moment (plus its better for your digestion anyway).
• At your next meal or snack, get right back on track by making wise food choices that will nourish, not deplete you. 

See the difference?

This is not about shaming foods or putting others on pedestals. It’s about eating sensibly and being able to see the whole picture. As many of you know, we are NOT about picking apart every food for its calorie/fat/carb content. But we DO care about how it serves our body. We embrace a healthy eating lifestyle because, very simply, we reap the benefits. We know it improves our quality of life, keeps our digestion running smoothly, our blood sugars stable (read: less cravings), our brains functioning more optimally and our weight better managed, just to name a few. 

We go into our 5 rules for healthy eating in this video, if you’d like to see more.

One thing we rely on is an arsenal of awesome easy recipes that make our taste buds sing! Check out our recipe page for some inspiration or our PM Meal Mastery Program to use as a foundation to make sure you are getting a good balance and the necessary nutrients in (so you can enjoy the wiggle room as we mentioned above).

Share your thoughts! Do you eat out of love or fear? Or somewhere in the middle?