I remember feeling like I wasn’t going to make it home in one piece…
…if I didn’t stop to get a bag of Oreos and eat them all while driving.
I know what it feels like to think about food all the time. To have that intense pull, that overwhelming compulsion to eat the thing right now!
I’ve been to OA meetings and heard myself in people’s sharing
I can tell you first hand, the abstinence approach to that feeling of being “addicted” to food doesn’t solve the real issue.
I did find relief for a short time in declaring I was vegan because it took all things made with butter and eggs off the table. I remember going into an Italian bakery with my mom one time and saying “being vegan makes it so much easier to not eat any of these things!”
BUT, I still found myself sneaking to the pantry and eating handfuls of dried fruit and spoonfuls of nut butter. I still binged and still felt out of control around food.
Now, because I’m the type of person who doesn’t like to let my problems go unsolved, I had to get to the bottom of this and fix it!
Step 1 was recognizing that another diet was not the answer. I had to look beyond the normal messaging.
I was getting more into yoga at the time and started following Erica Mather. I watched her “what I learned in yoga” videos where she candidly shared about her journey of body acceptance and intuitive eating.
A sense of relief and knowing washed over me. I was on the right track.
Then one resource led to another and a whole group of professionals revealed themselves. I began to delve into how to ditch dieting and develop a healthy relationship with food.
I trained with the amazing women of Be Nourished to work through the process of developing “body trust,” gaining an understanding of what was behind my compulsive eating and developing a practice of attuned eating.
I was not addicted to food (sugar, carbs, etc) – I was stuck in the dieting trap!
I was unaware of unconscious beliefs and patterns that were running my life!
This process opened me up to a new level of loving and trusting myself. It got to the root cause of my struggle with food so I could let go of those behaviors.
It was a process of coming back to myself and I am so glad I did.
I integrated this approach into my study of nutrition. And now it is a major part of how I help people have confidence and ease in eating so they feel great and can enjoy life.
Life can be so amazing when you let go of the rules and trust yourself.