"That cake is evil!"
I found myself saying that recently. And then I came to and realized that I had allowed myself to be hypnotized by my old beliefs. I grew up with slogans like "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips," and "You can never be too rich or too thin." My mother was perpetually on a diet, and, meaning to show her love, persuaded me that parts of my body were less than perfect, too. (And mainstream culture - I just accidently typed "meanstream." Hmmm - only reinforced what she said.) And so the soundtrack playing in my head became full of things like "hips too wide," "butt too big," "arms too flabby," and, the piece de resistance, "too fat to be loved."
I believe that what we tell ourselves on a daily basis becomes our reality. The truth of the comments is irrelevant.
I was 5'4", approximately 123 lbs. and a size 4-6 when I was saying those things to myself. I wore girdles so my enormous (to me) butt wouldn't jiggle and my "thunder thighs" wouldn't rub together. And I believed that cake was evil. So were cookies, chips, potatoes, bread, chocolate, ice cream...you get the picture. Those foods made me fat. Those foods were B.A.D. They were out to get me. They seduced me and lulled me and took the place of any love that might have come my way were I able to put my attention somewhere else.
Here's what I believe now. Food is food. It's neither good nor bad. It's not a collection of attributes (protein, carbs, fat, vitamins, minerals...). It's what keeps me alive and keeps me healthy and gives me joy, if I let it. Cake can be a celebration. So can a salad fresh from the farmers market, or a tomato I grew myself. It's what I bring to the food that matters. If I'm stressed out about how it's going to hurt me, then guess what? It will make me feel bad - physically and emotionally. If I savour it, I feel good. No matter what I'm eating. And here's another interesting phenomenon. If I savour my food, I tend to need less of it. Because my body is sure it's been nourished. And it's able to do it's job efficiently.
Nourishment is what food is for. How will you nourish yourself today?
